finally something. there are still more question, though.

While I agree he shouldnt have been charged as an adult, I don't think letting him go is the "best" we could have hoped for.

At the very least, he should have been charged with a hate crime for targeting people based on their race.

At the risk of going against the grain and being called a troll, degraded in every way possible for asking a question, what does everyone feel?

Should he not be held accountable, or should he be responsible for violently attacking someone based on race?

Scilian: Have you read the details of the case?

a)Previously, when a group of white students beat up a black student the white kids were all let go on probation.

b) The white student did not get beaten up for being white. He was antagonizing the black kids including calling them a variety of racial slurs. He got his ass kicked for being an asshole, not for being white.

Since the kid was targeted for his actions, not his race, there's really no basis for charing Mychal Bell with a hate crime. Even if you find that dubious, the previous group of white kids were not charged with a hate crime in a very similar situation, so how could you possibly justify charging the black kids?

Also, the teen who was "attacked" was admitted to the hospital and released 3 hrs later and (according to an NPR article) seen a social gathering that same night.

Other questions:
I wonder what happened to the people who attacked Bailey? And what about the charges of theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace? Any why do Robert Bailey Jr. and Bryant Purvis still face attempted murder charges?

If anyone has access to Washington Post articles, check out this AP article on the case:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091401861.html
I don't know if I feel better now that the mainstream media is covering this case if they're going to present it as terribly as they do here.

This is great news and thanks for the clarification Roni, you beat me to it:) The only thing that worries me is that this might lead to more tension and fighting within the town, I doubt the white community of Jena is going to take this news lightly.

I think this CBS article is more fair: click. Actually, it still kind of makes it sound like black people just randomly started attacking white people. I suppose that's about as good as the commercial coverage will get.

"Should he not be held accountable, or should he be responsible for violently attacking someone based on race?"

I don't think anyone said they shouldn't be punished.

But I think A) haven't they already spent 9 months in jail? That sounds about right for an assault that didn't require 24 hours+ hospitilization; and B) I think part of the response was that white kids did the same thing and didn't even get charged, let alone sentenced to 15 years in prison.

I haven't read all the details but that was my impression.

There was a similar case in LA last year - basically a group of black kids beat the hell out of three white girls and pretty much got off scot free. The only reason they stopped is a black guy intervened, and then gangs tried to intimidate the witnesses who came forward.

I think people are reacting more to the race tensions flamed by these sorts of cases.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1747488/posts

http://card.wordpress.com/2007/02/04/black-on-white-halloween-attackers-get-probation-house-arrest/

Here are two stories about the case mentioned above. Pretty much shows that the opposite can happen too, meaning that a group of black kids severely assaulted three young white women and served only house arrest.

I gotta say after I saw this

"Nooses that be hung in the tree mean that somebody is fix'n to die,� said Marcus Jones,

I got really upset. It reminds me of writers using "slave dialect" to discredit black people. There is absolutely no reason to spell it that way, when I'm sure they knew exactly what he meant.

Wow, the CBS article [i]conveniently[/i] leaves out SEVERAL things, such as:

The school called an assembly and summoned the police and the district attorney. Black students sat on one side, whites on the other. District Attorney Reed Walters warned the students he could be their friend or their worst enemy. He lifted his fountain pen and said, "With one stroke of my pen, I can make your life disappear."

That evening, black students told their parents that the DA was looking right at them. Walters denies that. Billy Fowler, a member of the school board, doesn't believe it, either.

and

16-year-old Robert Bailey and a few black friends tried to enter a party attended mostly by whites. When Bailey got inside, he was attacked and beaten. The next day, tensions escalated at a local convenience store. Bailey exchanged words with a white student who had been at the party. The white boy ran back to his truck and pulled out a pistol grip shotgun. Bailey ran after him and wrestled him for the gun.

After some scuffling, Bailey and his friends took the gun away and brought it home. Bailey was eventually charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student who pulled the weapon was not charged at all.

Which can be found in this NPR article http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12353776

I would like to say more, but all I can muster up right now is thank God.

-Waverly

I would like to say more, but all I can muster up right now is thank God.

-Waverly

I would like to say more, but all I can muster up right now is thank God.

-Waverly

fatsweatybetty
What's your point? Violence and injustice come in all shapes and colors. No one said anything to the contrary.

Also, those cases ARE NOT THE SAME as these.

While this is an important victory, it is only a PARTIAL victory -- some important things to note:

-- Mychal is still in jail!

-- The DA has the option of filing charges again, and things seem to indicate he will;

-- This does not apply to the remaining four defendants.

In other words, we are so not done here.

Check below for this update/analysis:

At the same time, as we go to press, Mychal Bell is still in jail and STILL under the threat of continuing prosecution. And, the other five Black youth of the Jena 6 are still facing charges that could put them behind bars for years. AP reports that, according to attorney George Tucker, the reversal of Bell’s conviction will not affect the four other teenagers also charged as adults, because they were 17 years old at the time of the fight and no longer considered juveniles. PEOPLE STILL NEED TO COME TO JENA ON SEPTEMBER 20 TO DEMAND THAT THE JENA 6 MUST ALL BE FREE!

The overturning of Bell’s conviction is an important victory for the people. It would not have come about without the courageous stand of people in Jena and the growing mass political movement across the country to free the Jena 6. THIS SHOWS THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE. BUT THE STRUGGLE TO FREE THE JENA 6 IS FAR FROM OVER.

An article in The Jena Times quoted District Attorney Reed Walters saying, “I will ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review the decision of the court of appeals.� And reported: “Bell will remain in jail until the issue is clarified by the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court agrees with the appeals court, Walters can choose to try Bell in adult court for attempted second-degree murder as originally charged or try him for a multitude of charges in juvenile court including the second-degree battery charge.�

Bell's legal team plans to go before the 28th District Court on Monday, September 17. Bell’s attorney Louis Scott stated, "We don't know what approach the prosecution is going to take — whether they will re-charge him, where he would have to be subjected to bail all over again or not."

People have been making plans to come to Jena on September 20 for a mass rally to support the Jena Six. And now it is even more important that thousands, from all over the country, GET ON THE BUS AND GET DOWN TO JENA ON SEPTEMBER 20 TO DELIVER A POWERFUL AND EVEN MORE DETERMINED MESSAGE THAT: WE WILL NOT BE SATISFIED AND WILL NOT STOP FIGHTING UNTIL the charges against ALL OF THE JENA SIX are dropped and THEY ARE ALL FREE!

"fatsweatybetty
What's your point? Violence and injustice come in all shapes and colors. No one said anything to the contrary.

Also, those cases ARE NOT THE SAME as these."

Roxie-
Yes, racism, violence, intolerance, injustice, etc. can come from everywhere in many ways. And no, these cases are not the same.
However, being from the Long Beach area, I followed the Bixby Knolls case and despite all the evidence against them, those kids got off ridiculously light. In my opinion, and it is just that, my personal opinion, they got off because they were black due to the fact that Long Beach is pretty diverse and I think there was a certain desire to keep the peace on the part of the "justice system." That whole case is neither here nor there, but I am just saying (not that I think anyone is disagreeing) that we need to be just as concerned about people of any race getting extremely harsh or light sentences due to their race.

So with the Jena 6, forgive my crude summary, we have whites getting off ridiculously light while blacks are being treated indefensibly harsh. And although this isn't exactly a new phenomenon, people are (finally) hearing about this story and are justifiably outraged. I am, however, curious if people would be as outraged if it were the opposite situation. I don't mean to hijack the thread, but my experience here in SoCal leads me to wonder. That's all. And I would like to note that I actually wasn't the one to first mention the other case.

AS you said, that case is neither here nor there, but I have a hard time believing you don't mean to derail. Considering what you're trying to bring up.

Just as one must consider violence and injustice, another must consider history and exceptions to rules.

don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to dismiss abuse against women in this country...but there's so much perspective to be had.

I absolutely agree. We could easily go on forever about the countless examples of people blatantly being treated differently by the law due (at least primarly) to their race. I guess I was just wondering if people are outraged because the Jena 6 are being unfairly targeted because of their race or if people are outraged because they are being targeted because they are BLACK, if I am making my distinction clear.

Basically what I'm trying to get across (however mangled my message may be coming off) is: I am glad that the public, and to some extent the MSM (although per usual they have managed to f*ck things up), are finally picking up on this story and calling bullsh*t on the all-too-common practice of unfairly prosecuting young blacks (though again, I concede that there is much more going on in this case as well). But rather than just hearing about how tired we are of seeing this happen to young black teens, I would like to hear more people rejecting the practice of using race, whatever race that may be, as either a privilege or a disadvantage in criminal cases. Most people on feministing have got it right, but I think that is because most posters here are more in tune to things like privilege and oppression than the average American. Because when I see media coverage of this case, though it has been sparse, it seems there is no real acknowledgement of the systematically unfair legal treatment of people based on their race. That prejudiced treatment that can manifest itself in different ways depending on the situation, which is what I had been trying to say with the Bixby Knolls case. So my point is that we shouldn't be outraged just because it is yet another example of black teens getting f*cked over by the legal system, we should be outraged because it is freaking 2007 and race (in general) is still playing such a huge role in criminal charges.

I just want ya'll to know that Jessica is changing lives through her book. It's a long story, and I am too sleepy, but I just wanted to say that. :)

Sorry, I didn't know where else to put it!

Again, we keep running up on how this case is different. It's more than being unfairly sentenced b/c of race, there's also the noose, the lack of charging other individuals b/c of race, and the threatening to end lives with a stroke of pin.

Even more, there's been another noose found at University of Maryland Black Cultural Center
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3580350&page=1