Jena 6
Let’s talk about the Jena 6, shall we?
The Jena 6 refers to a group of 6 black teenagers who were charged with the beating of a white teenager at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana, United States on December 24th, 2006. The six black students were initially charged with attempted second degree murder and conspiracy to commit second degree murder. The beating followed a number of racially-charged incidents in the town, notably when three white students hung nooses from a tree at Jena High school following a black student asking if he could sit under the tree. (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_6)
Talk about the song “Teenagers”! (By My Chemical Romance- they say that teenagers scare the living s*** out of me They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me)
For one thing, those nooses never, under any circumstances, should have been hung. After all the terrible and shameful things that Americans did during the Civil Rights movement and it all came down to this. Didn’t Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. say that we should use words and not violence? Doesn’t these people’s god tell them that revenge is something that their god will take care of (Romans in the New Testament)?
But that doesn’t mean that the 6 African Americans should go without punishment. No one can prove that they were given the sentence(s) (t)he(y) received based on their race (excuse the accidental rhyme). Sure, guess all you want, hypothesize all you want. It can’t and won’t be proven.
Mychal Bell, the only member of the “Jena Six” to be tried so far, has had his convictions set aside, one by the trial judge and the other by the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal. Both convictions were overturned on the grounds that the defendant should have been tried as a juvenile, not as an adult, because he was sixteen when the incident occurred. Bell was incarcerated for almost 10 months, before being released on September 27th, 2007, after bail was posted on his behalf. The District Attorney has indicated he does not plan to appeal further, meaning that Bell will be tried as a juvenile. (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_6)
He was 16 when it happened, therefore Mychal was not thinking as an adult. Maybe now, nearly 1 year later, he would’ve done things differently. Why is everyone complaining because he’s getting tried as a minor? It’s not as if he’s some terrorist and needs to be in jail for the rest of living eternity. He made what was probably in impulse decision, while he was legally a child, and now he is going to pay for it, as the child he was at the time (legally).
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