Eddie Thompson - a pastor in Jena and who worked with the AP because he was concerned about the level of racism and bigotry in his town - wrote a post (h/t reader Mike C.) about what truly happened in Jena, because he feels that the American national media ignore news and facts that contradict their “the Jena 6 are the victim here.” The pastor feels that the national media - and the civil rights movement, and others involved - are making Jena the sacrificial lamb (for all America’s sins). They have lost all sense of perspective.
A couple of the points pastor Eddie makes:
- The actions of the three white students who hung the nooses demonstrate prejudice and bigotry. However, they were not just given “two days suspension” as reported by national news agencies. After first being expelled, then upon appeal, being allowed to re-enter the school system, they were sent to an alternative school, off-campus, for an extended period of time. They underwent investigations by Federal and Sate authorities. They were given psychological evaluations. Even when they were eventually allowed back on campus they were not allowed to be a part of the general population for weeks.
- There was no ‘fight’ on December 4, 2006 at Jena High School, as the national media continues to characterize the event in question. Six students attacked a single student who was immediately knocked unconscious. According to sworn testimony, they stomped him, as he lay ‘lifeless’ upon the ground.
- The speech given by Reed Walters that included the now infamous statement “I can end your life with the stroke of a pen” was not given to a group of black students. It was given during a speech to the entire student body in an assembly called by the school’s principal to calm a community that was pulling their children out of school because there were two fights one day with racial overtones. Two girls, one white and one black fought. Another student was taken to the emergency room to receive stitches.
- The national news media has not mentioned a single time that there was an FBI investigation into the hanging of the nooses and the conduct of Reed Walters that concluded there was no criminal activity or “hate crime” involved. The report is available to the media, along with court records and sworn testimony, none of which has been reported.
- Justin Barker, the white student attacked, was not the first white student targeted by these black students. Others had been informed they were going to be beaten, but stayed away from school and out of sight until they felt safe.
And there is more. Remember how the progressive blogosphere and newsmedia constantly point out that although the victim - Justin Barker - was beaten unconscious and that the African-American students continued to beat him as he was laying lifeless on the ground he was able to attend “a party” in the evening nonetheless? “The Barkers, by no means a wealthy family, face medical bills already over $12,000 from the emergency room visit. Imagine what an overnight visit would have cost. Justin Barker was advised to remain hospitalized but decided he would not let the event keep him from participating in the once-in-a-lifetime, traditional Ring Ceremony at First Baptist Church in Jena, where class rings are presented to the upcoming senior class,” writes pastor Eddie.
The newsmedia also seem to forget, pastor Eddie points out, that although a ‘Justin’ was involved in quite some problems between whites and blacks, they were three different Justins. Somehow, the media turned these three different Justins into one.
- The entire black community of Jena is not being heard in this controversy, just the parents, relatives, and close friends of the Jena Six. The black community of Jena has not been involved in the protests and demonstrations called by national race-based organizations. Some state and national race crusaders have chastised them for not “rising up” with the parents to force law enforcement to “free the Jena Six.” Many do agree that the charges seem wrong, but they also know the criminal history of the boys referred to as the “Jena Six.” It is their neighborhood these boys have terrorized. Not even all of the parents claim that these boys should be set free with no consequence for their actions. One of the parents was interviewed, saying that the boys should suffer the fair punishment for their actions. He suggested that simple battery would be an acceptable charge. With one exception, the local black pastors do not support the demonstrations. They have been openly criticized for their lack of cooperation with the national race crusaders. One of them counseled the “Jena Six” families to not stir controversy for controversy’s sake. The black pastor was openly condemned by a local radio personality sympathetic to the cause of the black parents. The rhetoric grew so intense that the black pastor was referred to as Reed Walter’s “house Negro” on the local radio talk show. The pastor is consistently accused on this show of working in cooperation with Reed Walters in a plot to undermine the “Jena Six.”
Lastly, the “Jena six” are not some innocent angels. They’ve got a (long) record of intimidating others and even using force against them. They’ve vandalized school and other property. They’ve beaten and threatened to beaten others up. They were warned - they and their parents - time and again, but they were protected from punishment because of their athletic abilities; in other words, the coaches protected them.
I stand by my post of yesterday; Jena has problems, America has problems, racism should be fought against, but these six are no victims. The people mentioned in the article I link to in this paragraph are, obviously, a bunch of filthy racists (and cowards). It’s completely right for the police to arrest and question them. As I said, Jena certainly has some (big) issues (it’s not difficult to conclude that considering that at least some of its inhabitents seem to be KKK members) and they should do something about them. The town should adopt a zero-tolerance on racism policy. But, it seems to me that these six aren’t victims of racism. Besides that, even racism doesn’t excuse violence (towards a boy who had - according to all accounts - nothing to do with racism).
Yeah, but look at the story: Small southern town, nooses hung, questionable charges against black students….sounds like “Mississippi Burning”, or some other civil rights era movie.
I still agree to the limitation from fifteen years. Apart from that, it’s the same thing with the media - shave awayt everything that doesn’t comply with the simple narrative theweak, streamlined minds of the viewers/reporters have created. Everything becomes a tug o’ war rather than an issue that can be calmly debated in order to prevent a relapse. I am starting to understand the importance of bipartisanship and anti-polarization more and more - the stakes should not be so high that anecdotal events are turned into simplified, symbolical battles in a large, unneccesary war of information.
Also, 15 grand? Washington Tango Foxtrot.
Yeah, it’s like heroin to the bleeding-heart media. But people can’t forget that the media’s not here to provide truth to anyone. They’re here to 1) make money, and 2) manipulate. Possibly not in that order. That also goes for sensationalists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who opportunistically profit from perpetuating lies and keeping the fires of prejudice and victimization stoked.
Xel: yes, exactly. The problem with these cases for any blogger - let alone right-of-center bloggers - is that if they try to point that out, they open themselves up to quite some criticism read vicious attacks.
Jena - and America - has some serious racism problems, and it would be wise for people there to talk about it and to fight it. But I don’t quite see how exaggerating things and ignoring facts that don’t support your predetermined judgment helps.
Lastly; I consider it to be the job of bloggers to correct where the media makes mistakes. I’m not, as such, telling the people of Jena what to do, I only attempt to shine a light on what truly happened / on the truth, and wade through all the lies and distortions.
BGG: they’re not ‘in it’ to manipulate in my opinion - manipulation is a tool, not an end. But money most surely is an end.
“and it would be wise for people there to talk about it and to fight it. But I don’t quite see how exaggerating things and ignoring facts that don’t support your predetermined judgment helps.”
Neither do I.
I think it is because there are stakes in this situation that would not have existed in a country with a less partisan, and less paranoid atmosphere - never mind the racial factor that shuts down rationality and understanding; what we also have here is the attempt of both “sides” to fit this sad event into a bigger history partially by their own design.
But this doesn’t really belong, it’s just that both sides are afraid of scaling back the scope and gravity of their speech because they do not believe that this will be met with respect and downscaling on the other side. Righters and Lefties need to seize this story and get their version out to the people, because it is ammo for bigger battles.
How did this happen? Why can’t this example be used as an opportunity to face your opponents in the harsh light of racial tension that are usually hidden? Why can’t the violence be a warning rather than a stimulant? Why the pathetic attempts to derivate clout and self-satisfaction from the crimes? Why the talk of larger conspiracies and agendas? Is it the result of the multi-faceted and hind brain-wired sterotypes laid down by Reagan’s supporters and detractors in that difficult and painful era?
The US government on all levels has too much power. Add a two-party system and all stories will be politicized sooner or later, because the stakes are so high…
Michael I do think the media’s intent is to manipulate the public and the government - for example look at arguments of both right and left media with regard to Iraq. Editors and journalists do have agendas and they work hard to sway people, or manipulate their views, into agreement with their side. It is the same with the issue of racism - the right and left have their agendas that they push through the media with the goal of gaining public and political support for their view. That’s my opinion of the media, but maybe I’m just cynical. Luckily these days we all have a voice thanks to “the new media.” Frankly I pay almost no attention to the mass media anymore.
I’d just like to point out that Wikipedia has more or less exactly all the points that he says the media is missing. It also has a couple that he’s missing:
“Walters is alleged to have threatened the protesters if they didn’t stop fussing over an “innocent prank”"
“On September 10, 2006, black students attempted to address the school board concerning the recent events but were refused because the board was of the opinion that the noose incident been adequately resolved.”
Anyway, seeing and hearing about the racism in Louisiana and Mississippi made me realize that it’s morphed from what people traditionally think of. It’s not that black people are systemically targeted, it’s that they are treated lower than their white counterparts of the same “social standing.”
A black honor student is admired, but not helped like a white one.
An average Joe is ignored more.
A trouble maker is less likely to get a second chance.
When two groups are fighting, the suspicion is always that the black ones caused it.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to have national outcry that sees in shades of gray. This isn’t like the kid that got 10 years for a blow job. These were bad kids that got treated worse than their white counterparts would have. Well, even more accurate, the DA attempted to completely railroad them. I’m not even sure if when all is said and done it actually will be even worse. I guess that’s a hard rallying cry.
Actually, the problem of how we as a society mistreat gifted students transcends race. They often are not “helped” regardless of race and are, in fact, often faced with a range of social and academic punishments if they show intelligence substantially above average. The problem is worse for black students (who may face the accusation of “acting white” from their peers if they show a preference for learning over athletics), but it is not unique to them.
Jason that’s a different problem, and trust me I know exactly what you are thinking of. From an educational level, of course gifted students are punished, but when it comes down to it, I always had my teachers give me leeway and let me do what I needed to. For the most part they had no idea what to do with me but they knew they could stay out of my way (and the few teachers that didn’t know this were actively kept in check by the teachers that did).
I meant “helped” as in help get to the next level: i.e. college AND getting scholarships and such. I saw how the smartest white kids had teachers and counselors go out of their way to expose them to all the different choices and would put time into it, while the black ones were just assumed that all they wanted to do was go to the local state school.
If the black kids asked, they were helped in this fashion just as vigorously. Still, nearly all the kids were completely ignorant and unless approached on a few things would not know what to do, so the implicit assumption still put them at a disadvantage when looking at overall racial dynamics.
Yeah, I have to take issue with the assertion about gifted kids too. There are rare pockets of success but overall gifted children are not helped much at all- and I don’t know that there’s any more animus toward gifted black kids than toward white ones; that’s a peer issue that seems to be pretty universal and I think the only thing that helps is to segregate the gifted and talented kids (those who excel in either academics or the arts) because only the peers who are similar tend to accept them and respect them for their accomplishments.
I think that most of the racism occurs toward those at the low end of the economic and academic spectrum, and the problem is that small issues become more magnified over time. Kids who don’t do well in the lower grades get branded as the failures and it’s really hard to overcome that later- and then the various social and economic factors make those kids vulnerable to drug use and crime, and then you come full circle to the stereotype being acted out and the whites in those communities feel vindicated because their idea of black hoodlums is ‘proven’.
Mikkel: What you described for the black gifted kids you know was completely different from my experience. I attended a charter high school that was nationally ranked in the top ten, and we had recruiters from all of the top universities and a good counseling staff that helped kids get matched to their best opportunities- so maybe that made a difference. The black kids who did well at our school were really a hot commodity with people practically begging them to attend Ivy League schools with a free ride.
CS you said it yourself: a charter school ranked nationally in the top 10. Of course that’s a completely different experience than in the public schools.
In there it seemed like the teachers had effort to expend on maybe 4 or 5 kids and they would mostly focus on the white ones. There were several people I knew that for one reason or another weren’t in gifted or honors classes but they got good grades and were convinced they should move up. On the other hand, I noticed this with only one black kid.
At graduation when they read the people with good grades it was readily apparent. I’d say about 70% of the white kids with GPAs above 3.75 were in gifted, and nearly every other one was in honors. In contrast, of the 30 or so black students that had a similarly high GPA, only one was in gifted and 5 or 6 in honors. The rest succeeded in the normal classes but were never pushed.
Whether this was because they weren’t pressed about it or they didn’t want to, I don’t know. It’s possible for social reasons that they just didn’t want to. On the other hand, I never saw any teachers try and convince them to go for larger goals.
I should note that I saw the exact same things with Hispanics in Colorado.
Oh and about the acceptance of gifted/talented. I think there is a strong socioeconomic factor in that too. Probably stronger than racial, but I think in general class is more important than race these days. Just that within most classes there is some latent racism still.
I should have pointed out that in my previous statements I was referring as “white” to more specifically “middle-middle upper” class white. The poorer white kids that were obviously smart didn’t get much help either. But this is something that I DID notice a HUGE difference between Colorado and Louisiana. In Colorado a good half of the people in my gifted classes were from lower incomes, a lot of them even “poor” (i.e. lived in trailer parks). In Louisiana I can only think of two that were even solidly middle class.
The beathing at Jena High School had nothing to do with the noose-handing incident. It stems from a fight at a private party, which was attended by both black and white students, that occurred when a group of unvited black students tried to crash the party. Rather than call police, a white non-student, who has been charged with battery, beat up one of the black party crashers. The following week at Jena High School, Barker made a taunting reference to the fight at the party. The beating was not in retaliation for the noose-hanging incident, which did not involve Barker. The black students did not attack Barker simply becasue he was white but because he taunted on of them about loosing the fight at the party, so it doesn’t qualify as a hate crime, but it was a pretty severe case of assault and battery. According to wittnesses, one of the black students hit Barker, who is a big, rugged-looking guy, from behind and knocked him unconscious. One of the back students then stood on his head while the others kicked him.
The local prosecutor says he would have charged the three white students if he could find a law to charge them under. The Justice Department investigated the noose-hanging incident and determined it did not qualify as a federal hate crime. The three white students who hung the nooses claimed it was joke. This claim seems incredible, but it is at least partially supported by newspaper accounts of the “white tree” chronology. A clique of white students hung out under the tree. According to local newspaper accounts, the black student who asked in a school assembly if he could sit under the tree asked the question in jest. The entire auditorium errupted in laughter. He was told that, of course, he could sit anywhere he wanted. The three white students say they hung the nooses as a continuation of the joke and that they got the idea from a movie. Photos of the three white students reveal they are immature, wimpy-looking guys who couldn’t intimidate Cub Scouts, much less the black athletes involved in the beating incident. Still, the school board was obviously wrong to shorten the suspension originally imposed by school administrators.
Mychal Bell may be only 16, but he was on parole on previous convictions for battery and assault and destruction of property committed prior to the incident at Jena High School. This is why he is still in jail. He could be jailed simply for violating his parole. Since the other black students involved in the beating are overt 17 and are adults under Lousiana law, they will be tried as adults. Any white person of their age would also be tried as an adult.
My understanding is that is only alleged by one or more members of the Jena Six (and, of course, their supporters). This is another item the MSM has been going around reporting as an undisputed “fact” in the case. Barker denies it and, according to this pastor, other students have claimed they were threatened with violence by the same group around the time of Barker’s beating.
[...] read more | digg story [...]
The Jena prosecutor says he did not prosecute the three teens who hung the nooses because Louisiana has no applicable hate crime laws. For the same reason, he has not filed hate crimes charges against the Jena Six, although there is plenty of evidence the attack on Barker was racially motivated and that members of the Jena six used racial slurs. In a sworn police statement, one student wrote that just prior to the attack, “I heard one of the boys say, “There’s that white mother f—er that was running his mouth.” In their written statements, other students said that members of the Jena Six had threatened and bullied other white students just prior to the attack and that members of the Jena Six told them they had a list of white students they plan to attack. These are allegations, of course, but since they were made in sworn police statements and are part of the public record, they merit serious attention.
The police documents and witness statements related to the Jena Six events are posted at http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/http. Anyone reading the witness statements will understand why Bell’s defense lawyer called no witnesses. If Bell’s defense lawyer had called character witness, he probably would have been disbarred for incompetence. Calling character witnesses would have allowed the prosecutor to reveal Bell’s criminal record and call victims of his previous assaults to the stand.
The Justice Department reopened its investigation to determine, among other thing, if Justin Barker taunted the Jena Six with racial slurs. Now that the Justice Department has investigated and “cleared” the victim of the Jena High School beating, it should investigate the perpetrators to determine if federal hate crimes should be brought against the Jena Six.