Topic : 10/01 Jena 6 Continues

It is truly sad, that in a world ravaged by ethnocentric wars and revolutions, clashes over religion, genocides, infantacides, starvation --- that in a developed country --- we can hate based on a few miligrams of skin pigment............ Collectively.... we need to fix this. Should those nooses have been hung? Absolutely not! They are an icon of hatred and those boys who put them there, knew full well the hate message being sent. Should they have been punished? Absolutely --- and, the punishment should be transparent so the perpetrators can be made an example of....i.e. you commit a hate crime -- you pay the price accordingly. Should 6 (any colour young men) have jumped on 1 (any colour) young man and beat him to the point of unconciousness and within a few inches of his life? Hell no! Should they be punished? Hell yes -- to fit the crime. The same way anyone who purposefuly assaults and intends harm on anyone else. Assault/Attempted murder is what it is and has to be dealt with in the manner necessary to convey societiies intolerance for noncompliance for the laws that protect society as a whole --- no matter what colour the perpetrator is and what colour the victim is.... a law is a law. Parents: Start early -- teach your kids at home to love, to be compassionate and to think for themselves!!!! (If their peers think it's cool to gang up on someone, teach them to have their own innver voice!). ALSO! Teach them to have a healthy respect of the law and the judicial system..... teach them accountability. You make a mistake -- you get to experience the consequences (even if it means jail time). You excel and achieve? You get those rewards as well. Speak about feelings.... how to resolve anger, hurt, fear....... don't let them bubble in to insurmountable mountains! I was very sad to hear about the Jena6 and all the media fury surrounding it.... how awful to get that kind of attention for something so terrible. I was also sad to read some of the other posts.... especially surrounding the New Orleans issues. I work in Toronto Canada.... we are such a microcosm of society -- this city has immigrants from all over the world.... I am happy to say that I work in an environment with Chinese, African Canadians, East Indian, Native Indian, European etc etc..... I consider myself blessed to be able to experience the insight that my co-workers bring to the table from their respective cultures. Dr. Phil - you have your work cut out for you..... I hope that you can help everyone through this most difficult time. My heart goes out to the Barker family -- may the lord bless you and heal you. For the Jena 6 -- stand up and be accountable for your deplorable actions..... don't hide under a blanket of 'racial unfairness'..... You seriously injured someone - violating their constitutional right to be safe, now stand up and accept the consequences for those actions....... Thank God, you did not kill him -- the consequences would have been much less palatable.

The idiot who made the comment that this isn't a race issue is deluded. Are you kidding? If those nooses had been hung on school property in our school district, the perpetrators would have been expelled permanently, not suspended for several days. It's unfortunate that in the eyes of the law this is not considered a hate crime. It certainly should be. That said, the boys that committed the act of violence against Justin should be punished to the fullest extent of the law as well.

Is what blacks do every day by baeting a white because some other white teenagers hung nooses in a tree. Mychal Bell's attorney has two levels of justice one for Mychal in that his past offenses shouldn't be brought up but the teenage offense off hanging nooses should be considered. There is racism and the majority of it is from the blacks in this situation.

How dare that school, teachers, parents, adults, allow a TREE in that town be SEGREGATED in 2007! Why has Jena allowed children to live in a town with such bigotry and racism along with everything negative the adults are pushing off on their children? Who are the adults trying to fool about the noose hanging in the historically segregated tree on the school grounds? Those kids knew exactly what they were doing and it is now obvious to me that racists and bigot parents and teachers have been teaching their kids to be the same way, which is unconscionable. What else are we to believe? Kids do not wake up with racial tension. I heard Justin's parents once again state, "we just want justice for our son." How much more justice? I wish Dr.Phil could get the Mayor involved. I believe racism and bigotry must be at epidemic levels in that town based on this situation, white kids with a segregated tree at school, kids hanging nooses on a tree limb with parents and school officials claiming the kids have no idea what they are doing when they hang the nooses from the tree. Are you kidding me? When kids are allowed to run amok, I can only imagine what the kids have dealt with through the years living in Jena. I feel sorry for them, all of them. I don't think this is just about black vs.whites. I think it must be about a variety of horrible things that make people miserable--it's a time bomb and it finally went blew and who did Jena sacrifice? I am afraid the Jena kids will never make it in society outside Jena when they grow up--black or white, hispanic, asian, it doesn't matter. When you are raised in that type of environment, over time, I am sure they will be a product of their parents and mentors and if they leave Jena, they will not make it because the behavior and mentality will not be acceptable outside Jena--hopefully. Someone please plead to get Mychal Bell out of jail. This is crazy that a child is in jail for over 10 months for this. What is the judicial system thinking? What is the point of keeping this child locked up? Has anyone with any authority answered this? I heard his attorney speak but can someone tell us why he is still in jail? Is he a truly a threat to someone? Isn't that the reason someone is locked up until proven guilty? Just another sacrifice, first Justin, now Mychal Bell. Wake up Jena--it's 2007 people!

But I do belive that the punishment fit the crime. My best friend, the brother I never had, and the man I loved was killed in 2005 by another man punching once in the face an kicking him when he was down. He wasn't even given the chance do defend himself. The point is is that you don't know of any pre exsisting conditions or if you're ganna just hit someone in the wrong spot and kill them. Just so I make myself clear, I think the white boys who hung the nooses should have been charged with a hate crime and done time in jail aswell. I think race is an issue that needs to be adressed down there, but I don't think that we should lose site of the fact that a serious crime was commited. No matter what race, shap or size, things of this matter can not be over look or obscured by another issue. My heart goes out to all thoughs affected by real injustices in the world. I just don't think this should be a problem at all. Do the crime, do the time. I really don't care if your purple.

It is unfortunate that I was not able to watch the first show about the Jena 6. However, I am currently watching the follow-up show. I am in no way, shape, or form condoning the actions of those young men. They committed a crime and should be punished. The punishment should fit the crime. It has been argued that the boys that hanged those nooses were unaware of the severity of their actions; that is a blatant lie. Had this happened in Fargo, North Dakota someone could possibly use that argument. This happened in the deep south...the birthplace of slavery. Those young men knew what they were doing which is why they hanged those nooses from the trees. They didn't hang them from a doorknob or on a coatrack. Hanging a noose from a tree carries just as much hatred as the burning of a cross or wearing a swastika airbrushed on a t-shirt. And let's not ignore the fact that they received in-school suspension for their actions. The principal wanted to expel those gentlemen but he was overruled. Why? Their actions were severe and they did not cause any physical pain but those actions did open up old wounds that have left nasty scars on U.S. citizens as well as the country itself.

I couldn't believe that Dr Phil would give Al Sharpton, a man of almost zere credibility, so much face and, mouth, time on his show. But, perhaps the good doc is unaware of the Tawana Brawley hoax Sharpton particiapted in 20 years ago. That's when Brawley, 15 at the time, went missing for four days and returned with her body covered with dog feces. And, racial slurs. Claiming that six white men ,one wearing a badge, kidnapped and raped her. These claims were quickly proven to be lies. Even to Sharpton. Yet he not only continued his involvement in this hoax but also, along with Brawley's lawyers, accused a local prosecutor, Steven Pagones, of on 33 occasions, "kidnapping, abusing and raping" her. A year later, a grand jury found all of the allegations false. And, nine years ago, Pagones won $65,000 from Sharpton in a defamation suit. Sharpton, IMO, is a desperate attention seeker. And, a major instigator of racial strife. Who calls any attack by white kids on a black kid a "racist hate crime" and wants "the law" to "throw the book at" them. But, when the shoe's on the other foot and black kids attack a white kid, it's just a "schoolyard fight." that ought to be handled by the principal. As if only whites are racist? Oh, get real! Even some of the comments Sharpton had made could be contrued as racist. The man seems to revel in racial strife. I think had he never shown up in Jena, there would've been a lot less racial strife there.

A white boy is beaten senseless. the "REASON" is some action of RACISM. Dr. Phil and his "Pastor" are so interested in the "healing" of one of the black hooligans, that not once, NOT ONCE, did we address THE POOR BOY who was beaten within an inch of his life. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN THE HEALING of the hooligan. As far as I am concerned, let the jerk rot in jail. Hey, Dr. Phil, why dont' you care about the VICTIM - the white boy was THE VICTIM of a TERRIBLE CRIME BY BLACK KIDS. Then, as if there is TOTAL RACIAL INEQUALITY, Dr. Phil has the NERVE to ask the BEATER'S mother if she would be willing to talk to the WHITE VICTIM'S mother. ARE YOU KIDDING DR. PHIL. You should have asked the poor mother of the beating victim IF SHE WOULD WANT TO STEP IN THE ROOM WITH THE MOTHER OF THAT THUG! this is so distressing to watch how white people deal with racial issues. This is like the 50's in reverse. The black boys were ENTITLED to beat the white boy because they were offended. Give us a break, dr, phil and stop getting behind reverse racism. Shame on you for not pointing out that hanging nooses DOES NOT COMPARE to beating someone within an inch of his life. And your "pastor" showed absolutely NO REGARD for the beating victim. Sorry, no kudos for this ridiculous, shameful show.

Based on your post, I assume you are white and therefore, by your logic, will have no problem admitting you are wrong when you make all encompassing statements such as "Blacks have a very hard time admitting they are wrong", and "BECAUSE they are Black-They get away with Things We white people would be fired for". You can not possibly believe all people of a certain race fit into one tidy bucket like that. If I were a woman, I could insert the word "men" where you have inserted the word "black". If I were a Jew, I could insert the word "Christian". If I were Hispanic, I could insert the word "Asian". If I were gay, I could insert the word "straight". I may be all of these things or none of these things, what does it really matter as long a I have a loving heart and I'm a good human? Don't you get it? Your attitude and others with the same attitude is what causes situations such as Jenna? If you have children, or there are others who are influenced by you, you are teaching them that "blacks" have advantages over them and you are planting seeds of resentment and racisim. It's the exact same seeds that at least one of the Jenna 6 parents planted in their child that grew into an act of hate and violence toward another human. It's the exact seeds that caused a group of radical men to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center and kill thousands of innocent people. A young man could have been killed, another young man sits in prision and a town is being ripped apart because someone planted the same seeds you have sown in your post. Your prejudice (definition: pre judgment) toward an entire race of people is why the likes of Mr. Jackson, Mr. Sharpton, and Mr. Barrett continue to influence civilized people into acts of barbarism in the name of "fairness". Here's a news flash, life is sometimes not fair. It's how we deal with the inequality that defines us as good or bad people. How will you be defined?

As soon as I wrote the heading it hit me, how can they not? When you have people that continue to fuel the fires for their own personal gain, they cannot be called >peacemakers>, let alone reverends, specifically Al Sharpton. But what shocked me even more was the hatred and anger coming from the young mans attorney. She had such anger in her face, eyes and tone of voice. And I do not beleive that she just developed this. I would bet she herself is a racist. How can this young man even begin to get a fair trial when his own lawyer is a racist, or acts and presents herself as one. These young men, ALL of them, and their entire school should go through some type of sensitivity training, and be kept as far away as possible from those seeking attention and using these serious incidents to promote their own agenda. Racism is on BOTH sides, not exclusive to one or the other. It seems like the younger generation is being fed the poison to continue and in fact ignite a new era of racism. How can we help? one parent at a time, one child at a time. Justice should be there for everyone, and hatred should be eliminated, Begin with yourself. It has to start somewhere.