And you apply the law fairly now by owning up to the mistakes of the past, especially when it's the very recent past.
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Sorry, I missed this part earlier.
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Originally Posted by Mojo_PeiPei
Also how was Justice not "metted" out fairly? Six idiots committed a violent crime, they were arrested, charged as such.
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They were charged with attempted murder for a beating in which the victim was in the hospital for 2 hours and there was no evidence that their intent was to kill him and only after public outrage did they reduce the charges. Their initial reaction was unjust and is indicative of
the real issue here. I don't see how you can admit there is racism in Jena and then deny it as an issue in this situation.
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And I'm rather upset that hate crime charges weren't pressed against the Jena 6. If it were six white kids who beat the shit out of a black kid, you know damn well everyone and their mother would be shrieking and hollering.
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The assault was provoked by a comment that the victim made. I don't believe at that point it can be considered a hate crime. They didn't attack him because he was white, they attacked him because he was a white guy making comments about one of the attackers. If the guy had been walking down the street minding his own business when he was attacked then I would agree with you.
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I'm not trying to unfairly paint you in an apologetic light, you called me an alarmist first.
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Well, I am sorry about that. I was being a little sarcastic. It's a weakness of mine. But I do think that concentrating on the few who have shirts or signs calling for their release as if it were the overwhelming opinion of everyone who feels this situation is wrong is a little extreme...perhaps even convenient. And I will go out on a limb and speculate that those statements are not being made because they believe the Jena 6 are innocent, but because they believe their has been a miscarriage of justice in Jena.
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And I am not denying that Jena is a hotbed of racial problems, especially how it relates to justice. But the Jena six are in no way shape or form fitting in that discussion for me.
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The situation in this town cannot be dissected and its parts parceled out in an easily digested order. Everything that has happened there is the direct result of an established social order that is wrong. And when I say that, I don't excuse these young men from being punished for what they did. But I think the entire situation was handled by the town's officials in an insensitive and downright ignorant way that, in essence, paved the pathway for this to happen.