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The only one of the accused 6 to not post bail, Mychal Bell, is expected to receive his sentencing today in Jena, Louisiana.
Local officials tried to impede the traveling march from entering the small town of Jena (population: 2,971) by limiting 5 buses to enter the city limits per 12 minutes.
Most locals have fled the city, businesses have closed down.
While the arrest stems from the fact that 6 black teens beat a white teammate unconscious -- a charge of attempted murder -- the controversy centers around the fact that these teens may receive excessive jail time; what many are worried will be a punishment that does not fit the crime given the racial context and circumstances surrounding the incident. A charge of attempted murder is easier to prescribe to these boys if past hate crimes are neglected. We're talking about up to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors and city officials insist that this entire case has nothing to do with race. How can this be close to the truth when the white victim is believed to have been one of three football players at the high school who hung nooses from a schoolyard tree as a statement to others? Donald Washington, Western Louisiana D.A., insists that race was not an issue because 3 months had passed between the hanging of the nooses and the beating last December.
According to the mothers of the accused teens, there is no question that a cloud of racial tension hung in that locker room. In November, less than a month before the beating, a white teen who graduated from the same school pulled a shotgun on 3 black teens as they were leaving a convenience store -- after wrestling the gun away from the boy, one of them was charged for theft of a firearm for running away with it (were they supposed to hand it back to him?). The boy who pulled the shotgun on them got off clean; no charge. As you can see, Jena is a special town -- one living in a bubble...did the civil rights movement forget to make a stop here as it was passing through Louisiana?
In a town of less than 3,000 people, nooses hanging from trees are not something you forget after 3 months. It takes time to properly tie a noose. It takes time to drive to school with these nooses in the back of your truck. It takes time to walk up to a tree and hang them there. It isn't simply a racial slur muttered in a football locker room. It's a statement; a threat.
Oh, and what happened to that tree by the way? The paranoid townspeople chopped it down.
AP Photo
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I thought this was a blog about L.A. (Los Angeles) not, LA (Louisiana).
This is a sad situation. As I look at all that has transpired it angers and saddens me at the same time. Looking at how we talk about how the people are being treated in Iraq and what needs to be done. Why are we not in the terrorist towns of America fighting that. To say the nooses were a prank is disgusting knowing what it represents to the African American community. I would not call it a hate crime, I call it terrorism. We hear how Ben Ladin and al queda are threatening the country and we rally the forces to put a stop to it. But those three boys that PLANNED/CONSPIRED to hang nooses to make a statement suspended for three days speak to the mind set of the city's people. I don't understand why the coverage for this didn't get anywhere near the coverage Michael Vick and OJ. There was even more coverage on the Duke University Lacrosse players and they were only standing trial for committing a crime against one woman. What they did in no way effected the lives of the numbers of people those nooses effected. What does that say? We have got to do better. You ask any african american what they would think about the nooses hanging in a place they frequent and see what you get. It stirs emotions to a level that no one can measure. How would the country act if there was a prank on the plane about a bomb or crashing into a building? There would be an outcry, arrest and/or imprisonment. To me this is the same thing. You take a symbol that represents; pain, death and oppression to the african american community and call it a prank. There is nothing about that the DA should have been able to over look. I wasn't there so I am not abreast of all the details however, this is crazy. Looking at the pictures, there is no way a charge of murder or aggrevated battery should have been brought against those young men. I saw a clip of an interview done with the DA and to my understanding he was saying he brought the charges based on what COULD have happened. I thought it was the crime committed. And then he said more statements justifying his actions based on HIS opinion and HIS thoughts. When they asked about the assembly he dismissed it and when he was pressured he stopped the interview saying it was getting out of control. No, what was out of control was his arrogance. He did say there was no threat...he is right, he was making a promise. They don't want to be portrayed as a racist town but their behavior is what is. Whenever you shine the light on something or someone they want to deny or justify their actions but it is what it is. One last note: So he had a record does that record warrant that he gets to be tried as an adult and his life taken away. I can only imagine how the people will be acting afterwards. They were afraid of all the people coming. They were thinking there was going to be violence because it's what they would be doing. If it's not something you would do you don't think that others would do to you. That is why the african american community don't understand the treatment they receive because it's not something they would do. For years they have been are still terrorized and now enough is enough.
@Guest #1:
This is a Los Angeles issue for several reasons.
1. The LA Times isn't giving story this proper coverage, so we are trying to compensate a bit to give Angelenos this important information.
2. Red states elect the president. Did you know that the president of the United States presides not only over Louisiana, but over California as well? Holy shit.
3. Many of the the marchers out there today came from Los Angeles on tour buses.
Wear black today if you feel that this is an injustice to show support the community.
Im not sure I understand why LAist is highlighting this case when, say, we have injustice in our own back yards that should be covered instead.
This case really isnt something Martin Luther King Jr would be proud off: SIX BLACK TEAMS BEAT A WHITE TEAH MATE UNCONCIOUS.
Are you condoning violence? Violent acts are never justifiable and LAist is adding fuel to the fire. Nooses hanging from a tree are disgusting, but more digusting is the violence being praised here and overlooked. Am I wrong? If so, please comment.
@Guest#5 you obviously are missing the point to this entire situation. The reason people are rallying and discussing this is because the punishment and the charged crime do not fit what actually occurred.
Fights happen everyday, yet most teens do not get charged with attempted murder. To negate the underlying circumstances which led to the crime is just unethical in the legal world.
Also, good job of trying to sidestep the argument at hand by trying to turn this into a "we shouldn't condone violence" issue. No one has stated that they shouldn't be charged with anything--just that they should be treated FAIRLY.
This case makes me so angry.Why is isn't the lead story on the news?? If I had known that people were taking buses to Jena I would have gone. What can I, a white over-priveleged westside housewife do to help these boys????
Racism and other prejudice still exists, in horrible fashion. I left the South myself to get away from prejudice on the basis of religion and disability, and it's my personal belief that the South is a horrible, unforgiving place that I will never return to and that, quite frankly, can rot in hell for all I care.
The folks in Jena clearly never got that memo about the Civil Rights Movement. It's time that they, and the rest of the rural south, were given that memo. It's far past time they had it slammed into their faces, as it were. The State and Parish, as well as the LA bar, should be filing myriad charges against the Jena DA for favoritism and abuse of his position.
It's unbelievable that the DA would choose to charge the person who protected himself from the shotgun, and it's unfathomable that the first boy's defense attorney should have done such a miserable job in defending him. The Louisiana bar fails justice even further by not seeking sanctions against him.
The more I read this case, the more I'm glad that I'll never again be subject to the Deep South's evil and hatred.
Racial divisions and injustice do still exist in LA, and it's foolish to think that these issues won't reverberate in California as the situation in Louisiana escalates.
Just to point out the local impact of this week's national "call to action" re: the Jena 6 --
a) Sunset was closed for about an hour this morning between Bronson and Van Ness for a rally/protest.
b) Approx. 200 students walked out of Locke High School in South LA at lunch as a protest in support of the Jena 6.
c) Several busses" left LA Tuesday for today's events in Jena, La.
Front page story? What about the semi-recent racial attack that happened in Long Beach? Several black girls jumping and almost killing a white girl. Didn't hear much about that. Sharpton and Jesse etc didn't make much ado about that either?
Guest #10 is referring to the Halloween beating of three white girls by 2 black girls in Long Beach.
@guest #10
I'm sorry if you missed the point but Rev Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are marching against INJUSTICE. There hasn't been anything unjust about the way in which these two black girls in Long Beach are being tried. Criminal charges have been brought against them.
When an argument in a high school lunchroom ends in a physical fight, it is unjust to charge the black kids in the fight with ATTEMPTED MURDER instead of aggravated assault. This is further made unjust by the fact that the white boy involved in the skirmish has a noted history of overt racism that has gone uncharged and unpunished.
One of the black boys involved was beaten with beer bottles by a white crowd from the same school that was having a party 2 months prior. This only lead to a misdemeanor for one of his attackers, amounting to probation.
3 black teens known to be associated to the accused had a shotgun pulled on them by another white teen a couple weeks prior to the beating as stated in the article.
Guest #10, am I misinterpreting the circumstances and events surrounding Jena High School?
As it was mentioned before -- no one is asking to see these kids let off light. What is being asked is this:
Does the punishment fit the crime?
"Jena 6" do not deserve "support".
"Jena 6" deserve what they are getting.
I could care less about the "Jena 6"
Henry D, i stand corrected. Just seems like the Black leaders should come out for peace when it is black on white crime too.
guest #10
Guest #7 you can sign this petition
http://colorofchange.org/jena/index.html
I take serious issue with the LAist censoring many of the posts made on this page. I didn't make any of them but I can tell that many have been deleted and it just goes to show that fascism exists on all sides of the political spectrum. Disgusting.
Regarding Guest Comment #15.
There has been no censorship of the comments. The only comments we delete are spam comments, which seem to be rare these days anyway.
If you think comments are disappearing, this may clear things up:
http://laist.com/2007/09/20/guest_comments.php
NIGGERS ARE THE MOST RACIST PIECES OF SHIT TO EVER WALK THE PLANET. THEY HATE HISPANICS, ASIANS AND ANY OTHER RACE NOT BLACK.
THE FACTS:THOSE NIGGGERS COMMITTED A CRIME AND SHOULD BE PUNISHED. THEY ALL HAVE PRIOR RECORDS AND ACT ACCORDINGLY. NIGGERS USE THE RACE CARD TO GET OUT OF TROUBLE ALL THE TIME. THEY WILL NEVER TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS AS LONG AS DUMB WHITE LIBERALS SUPPORT THEM.
DO SOCIETY A FAVOR AND GIVE THE JENA 6 THE CHAIR...
NIGGERS ARE AND WILL ALWAYS BE NIGGERS!!!!
The most important lesson, for those who have wit enough to learn it, is that niggers are by nature savages, and that nature cannot be changed by window-dressing or persiflage. No one doubts the unalterability of inherent instincts in other animals. Chimpanzees, for example, may be taught to wear clothing, understand commands, ride bicycles, smoke cigarettes, and even to act as nursemaids to children (if well paid for their services in bananas). They recognize that they must be obedient to their masters, but everyone knows that if bands of chimpanzees were free from control, they would behave with the ferocity you may have glimpsed for a moment or two if you watched the National Geographic's video-tape about them, filmed by Jane Goodall.
The simple fact is that all pure-blooded Congoids and most other niggers are innately savages and can never be anything else. First-generation mulattos, the result of miscegenation, a crime that would be stringently prohibited if tender-hearted humanitarians had any sense of pity, are almost invariably savages, but may inherit some White instincts and thus be condemned to suffer an incurable schizophrenia throughout their wretched lives. In quadroons occasionally and octoroons frequently the White elements may dominate and produce individuals capable of civilization instead of mimicking it when expedient. A few, indeed, are highly intelligent, as witness Lawrence Dennis, who was one of the victims of Franklin Roosevelt's premature attempt to begin ruling by terror in imitation of his model, Lenin, and his fellow conspirator, Stalin. A rational and compassionate American, however, would have thought it pathetic that so intelligent and courageous a man as Dennis had to be almost childishly proud that he could entertain acquaintances in the Harvard Club, aware, of course, of the indelible genetic blot on his being.
With the stated exceptions, niggers are savages and you should understand that you can never understand them, except as you understand cheetahs or cuttlefish, by observing their behavior. All missionaries and other gospel-venders pretend, and simple-minded ones actually believe, that niggers can be transformed by dousing them in holy water and giving them sips of Jesus-juice, but that is sheer nonsense, as Noel Hunt puts succinctly, "A white man can no more think like a black than he can think like a bee."
Like all anthropoids, the savages can be taught patterns of behavior by persons who have authority over them, and, since they are capable of speech, they are more adaptable than chimpanzees. They can be taught to speak a recognizable English, wear currently fashionable clothes, drive automobiles, and perform almost any simple act that will win them a reward--even one that is deferred for some little time--and to avoid performing acts that will certainly be punished, sooner or later. (This is a marked difference from, e.g., dogs, who, as you know, must be rewarded or punished at the time of the act, for there is no way of communicating to them the meaning of a deferred reward or punishment. The same is true of chimpanzees.) Under competent supervision, niggers can perform useful work, and many can be taught to perform tasks that require some continuous attention and a fairly high degree of skill. Many, like all domesticated animals (especially dogs and horses), can become attached to their masters and take pride in serving them. And our enemies can teach them to yell for unearned rewards and privileges that White nitwits think themselves obliged to bestow on what they imagine the savages to be. And it is likely that, as has been verified by observation of American Indians, the Congoids' nervous systems perceive pain and pleasure in ways that differ greatly from the comparable reactions of Aryans.
Savages are incapable of civilization, for the same reason that tigers are incapable of becoming vegetarians. Savages, however, being innately treacherous, have a well developed capacity for simulation when it is to their advantage to employ it. Some anthropologists believe that the savages could, if left alone, evolve biologically and become capable of founding or inwardly appreciating a civilization in ten thousand years or so. Under coercion, they might develop a sense of civilization more quickly, perhaps in two or three thousand years.
If our race finds it profitable or otherwise worthwhile to impose a measure of civilization on savages, it can bestow on them great benefits, according to our scale of values. But you must always remember what Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 for his efforts to improve conditions in Africa, learned by bitter experience and stated clearly in a memorable passage of which an American newspaper, if we had any instead of the Jews' liepapers, would continually remind its readers:
'I have given my life to try to alleviate suffering among Africans. There is something that white men who have lived there, as I have, must have learned and know: that those people are a sub-race.'
'They have neither the intellectual and mental nor the emotional abilities to equate themselves or share equally with white men in any of the functions of our civilization.
I have given my life to try to bring to them the advantages which our civilization must offer, but I have become well aware that we must preserve our status: whites are the superior, and they the inferior race. For whenever a white man seeks to live among them as their equal, they will destroy him and all his work.
And so for any lasting relationship or any benefit to this people, let white men from anywhere in the world who would come to help Africans remember that they must continually maintain this status: you are the master and they the inferiors, like children that you would help or teach.
Never fraternize with them or accept them as your social equals, or they will devour you, they will destroy you.'
The indisputable facts that Dr. Schweitzer courageously stated, sacrificing the favor he had enjoyed from our enemies and their dupes, were, of course, known to the World Destroyers when they began their gradual and cleverly accelerated work to stir up the savages by telling them they had "rights" they must assert, while at the same time paralyzing the minds of the American boobs by convincing them they had a Christian duty to deny themselves something they wanted in order to subsidize and pamper the "underprivileged" savages. In a nation that was already suffering from the egalitarian psychosis and had given the savages the "right" to vote, the work of calculated subversion was easily carried out and not even noticed by the boobs who are to be herded to extinction.
HOW TO BE A WORTHLESS, VILE, AMERICAN YARD-APE!!!!
Slink around, shuffling your feet and bobbing your neck like the lazy retard you are.
- Walk down the middle of the street because you don't know what a sidewalk is for.
- Hang out at carwashes and mini-marts because everybody knows these are the best places to be a dope, I mean dope.
- If you're a nigger bitch, shit three nigger babies into the world before 17 years of age. This assures that welfare money will support you, so your nigger men have more time to commit crimes. Oh yes, make sure each nigger baby has a different father.
- Bastardize the English language in the name of nigger culture. Make sure that several terms have multiple meanings and others have ambiguous meanings and that only 50% of nigger words are even complete words. Real niggers will know what you're trying to say.
- As a culture, make sure there are always more bucks in prison than in college at any given time.
- Hang out in packs of 10 to 15 and make sure everyone acts as annoying as possible. This helps to promote nigger individuality.
- Always talk loud enough so everyone in the 'hood' can fucking hear you, and if they are niggers, they will know what your saying, bro.
- Wear clothes that are 10 sizes too big, making sure the pants hang off your ass. Also huge pants facilitate stealing (let me translate that: "it be easier to lift dat 'box at the Kmart, homes"). If you have to hold them up while you walk, it only looks badder.
- Park at least 5 junk cars in your yard while being careful not to use the driveway. It's OK to abandon them in the street as long as it's in front of someone else's crib.
- Exaggerate every motion, every tonal inflection and grab your dick a lot.
- Have red carpet, blue walls, brass and overstuffed furnishings (all rented), purple bathrooms and keep all windows covered so that no light can enter and no cops can see in while you...
- Do drugs, sell drugs, make drugs.
- Turn your backyard into a junk yard. If you don't have a backyard, turn your mother's into a junk yard. Eliminate every blade of grass.
- Travel around leaching off relatives, friends, salvation armies. Abandon your children with them also.
- Smack your kids and yell at them a lot. Make them feel less than human and that they have no future, which they don't because they're niggers like you.
- Drink cheap wine and malt liquor every day, forgetting that "malt liquor" is just fortified cheap beer.
- If you're a nigger buck: fuck anything that moves, no matter how ugly she is. After two eight-balls, even the ugliest, fattest nigger bitch will look good.
- Be charitable and covet fat, ugly white chicks. After all, they're niggers too. They can't help being so undesirable to white men that they have to fraternize with black dudes on a 20/20 trip. And white ho's are a special trophy too, especially the not so ugly ones.
- Spray paint everything in sight with scribbles that mean nothing to White people but mean things to fellow niggers (except niggers from another hood who will probably try to kill you for tresspassing on their turf)
- Use the term "motherfucker" in every sentence. It's one of the most versatile words in the nigger language, being a noun, verb, adjective and complete mini-sentence in event you run out of thoughts.
- Stop in the middle of the street, blocking all traffic to converse with fellow niggers and have complete disregard for everyone else.
- Delay everybody at the checkouts while you and 3 other dudes fumble around for the $1.42 for the bottle of Magnum.
- Clog isles at Kmart with strollers, bastard kids and your fat selves. If you're a cashier, never look at or be cordial to a customer and always talk to other niggers while you ring up the customer.
- Overcharge customers at Taco Bell and pocket the difference.
- Drive your car while slouched so low that you can barely see over the wheel (gangsta drivin').
- Get a job under affirmative action. Then sit around all day pretending that you earned the position and that the other co-workers respect you. Whenever you fuck up, scream "racism!" & hope you get enough Generation X liberals in the jury.
- Never, I mean NEVER, take any responsibility for your actions. Always blame others including Asians, Latinos, Mexicans, and especially Whites for your sorry ass stupid lives.
- Advertise your "nation" (gang) with a bewildering array of colors that mean nothing to any one but other nig's. Oh yes, if another nig violates your "nation" i.e. garbage strewn empty lots and burned out tenements, shoot their ass.
- Look for identity in murderous criminal gangs when you can't find it in broken nigger homes because your mother was a 15 year old cokewhore and your father is in jail doing 5 to 15 for pistol whipping a mini-mart cashier.
- Be all concerned with east/west connections, cellular phones, beepers, drive by's and other trivial bullshit that Whites will never understand anything about (what's to understand?)
- Lament ghetto gang life while at the same time...
- Listen to rap "music", which glorifies "gangsta" life, crime, drugs, murder, early death, oppression of women. Rip off other legit music to fabricate rap music which probably takes an engineering degree to "write" (because of the technical know-how to operate the machines) while not requiring any music talent at all. Then get some young criminal scum to perform it, after changing his name to something stupid like Snoopy Dog. Spell the name of the group with phonetics and use a number in it because nig's really like that.
At least rap is an opportunity, e.g. for young black criminals to further their criminal careers. Rap needs only four things to be successful:
a producer, a promoter, a front-man flunky, and MTV to shove it down our throats. Be sure to say absolutely nothing important during the 5 pages of dialogue in a given rap joint other than "look at how much of a nigger I can be." Then roll a joint in the joint and think about the joint while stylin' to the joint.
- Show other lame-ass races the black race is unique by having a culture/lifestyle that results in diseases/poverty/birth rates for blacks consistently rising while it falls for the others.
- Fear and loathing of dogs is set in the genes for nig's. Of course bigotry against blacks is set into the genes of dogs. So be sure to get a dog, tie it up in the cold and mud and neglect it until it dies. Then start all over again.
- Always have ten excuses involving hospitals for why you can't pay your bill. When or if you finally settle up, pull out a big wad of bills out of the welfare check to do it. Cash must be used because you long ago fucked up your credit and checking account.
- Cram 5 generations into a two room government apartment and still be able to neglect your kids.
- Die young. The #1 cause of death for nigger males between 15 and 30 is murder.
NIGGER JOB APPLICATION
It is not necessary to attach a photo since all Coons look alike. NAME_________________________ALIAS:_______________________ DATE________________ ADDRESS________________________________________________________________________ (If living in automobile give make, model & license number) NAME OF MOTHA_________________________ NAME OF FATHA___________________________ (If known) MAKE OF AUTOMOBILE: Cadillac___________Lincoln____________Imperial_____________ Number of children claimed on Welfare__________________________________________ Number of legitimate Children (If Any)_________________________________________ Marital Status: Common Law________ Shacked Up__________ Place of birth: Crack House________ City dump___________________ Zoo________________ Back Alley__________________ Free Public Hospital_____________________________ Approximate Estimate of Income: Welfare $__________ Unemployment $____________ Theft $____________ Drug deals $______________ Check machines you can operate: Typewriter_____________Adding Machine__________ Afro-pick______________Drugs scale_____________ Switch Blade___________Injection needle________ Saturday nite special_______Crack pipe_________ Check foods you like best: Ribs___________________ Watermelon_____________ Grits______________ All of the Above___________ Total days spent in prison or detention center:________________________________ (attach additional sheets if necessary) Check illnesses you may have had in the last year: Measles_________Mumps_________ Gonorrhea_________Syphilis_________AIDS_________ Average Drug overdoses per year_________________ (If still alive) Abilities: Gang banging____________________ Demonstratin'_________________ Gang Raping_____________________ Drug Pushin'__________________ Gangsta rapping_________________ Robbin'_______________________ All of the Above________________ Pimpin'_______________________ In 50 words or less, describe your greatest desire in life: (other than sodomizing a white girl) _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ I,__________________________________(X or signature), I swars thatzs dis answered to bests of dis naggers abilty, and thats I swars thatzs I willz alwayzs looks likea nagger, dress likea nagger, actsa likea nagger, and smellas likea nagger. Isa believes in dis NAACP thats wesa naggers is better than all white folks is. I's pramise do everythang to's increase nagger papulations, so's help me Lawd!
NIGGER MATH TEST
The following exam was given to LA Chimp-Americans by a former LS school teacher: Name:___________ Alias:____________ Gang:____________ 1. Johnny has an AK-47 with a 40 round clip. If he misses 6 out of 10 shots, and he shoots 13 times at every drive by shooting, how may drive by shootings can he enjoy before he has to reload? 2. Jose has 2 ounces of cocaine and he sells an 8 ball to Ricky for $320 and 2 grams to D.J. for $85 per gram. What is the street value of the balance of the cocaine if he doesn't cut it? 3. Rufus is pimping for 3 girls. If his price is $65 per Joe, how many tricks will each have to turn so Rufus can pay for his $800 per day crack habit? 4. Jerome wants to cut his 1/2 pound pound of heroin and make a 20% profit. How many ounces of cut will he need? 5. Willie gets $200 for stealing a BMW, $50 for stealing a Chevy, and $200 for a 4x4. If he has stolen 2 BMW's and 3 4x4's, how many Chevys will he have to steal to make $1000? 6. Raoul is in prison for 6 years for murder. He got $10,000 for the hit. If his common law wife is spending $100 per month, how much money will be left when he gets out of prison, and how many years will he get for killing her for spending his money? 7. If the average spray can covers 22 square feet and the average letter is 8 square feet, how many letters can Tagger spray if he steals 3 cans of paint and finds 1 can of paint 1/3 empty? 8. Hector has knocked up 6 girls in his gang. If there are 27 girls in the gang, what percentage of the girls in the gang has Hector knocked up? 9. Thelma can cook dinner for her 16 children for $7.50 per night. She gets $234 a month welfare for each child. If her $235 per month rent goes up 15%, how many children should she have to keep up with expenses? 10. Salvator was arrested for dealing crack and his bail was set at $25,000. If he pays a bail bondsman 12% and returns to Mexico, how much money will he lose for jumping bail?
DANNY FESTLER, THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND...