Race Relations Rackets
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Jena, Louisiana, has become the new rallying point for a civil rights movement, or so the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would like us to believe. Sharpton and Jackson held protests on behalf of the Jena 6 stating that it was racism at work. However, their argument is significantly watered down and arguably they hurt the cause improved race relations by their own actions.
The whole controversy started at Jena High School under a large tree where whites typically gathered. Some black students wanted to hang out there too. At one point, black students visited under the tree. The next day nooses were left hanging from the tree to intimidate the black students. Three white students were suspended as a result of this insulting and derogatory conduct.
Soon after the suspension, a white student (who had nothing to do with the nooses) was physically assaulted by 6 black students. These students were charged criminally. Originally, they were charged with attempted murder (this appears to be quite a stretch as the victim had a bruised face but was at a school function later the same date of the attack). The charges were amended at some point. One of the 6 was convicted and jailed of 2nd degree battery. The other 5 are out on bail. An appeals court overturned his conviction on grounds he should not have been tried as an adult. So, there it is. These are the facts of where this incident is at.
Now, Jackson and Sharpton have stirred up a hornets nest and gotten people worked up over this incident. If the roles had been reversed with 6 whites beating up a black teen there would have been an outcry for them to be charged, right? There would have been cries for hate crimes enhancements because of the skin color, right? My question is: Why should it be any different in this case? If you commit a crime there are consequences irregardless of skin color. My second point is: How can this be civil rights material like the sacrifices of Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and others that endured beatings, threats, etc. to make a point that we should all be judged by the content of our character and not our skin color? Civil disobedience in the face of unjustified actions is a far cry from the facts in this case.
I would argue Jackson and Sharpton have INTENTIONALLY and RECKLESSLY stirred up trouble to keep racial divisions IN PLACE. This keeps them in positions of authority in the black community and does not promote healing or understanding. I don’t really think they want the races to come together because they would lose their influence, power, and funding. They have abandoned right and wrong for an agenda of reverse racism to promote their causes. In doing so, they have turned off moderate people that are open to a message of fairness, tolerance, and healing. It’s hard to work in solidarity with people that call someone a racist because of the color of their skin or because they won’t go along with a political agenda that negatively exacerbates race relations. What do you think?
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Comments
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0 
0 I think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are prostituting Dr. Martin Luther King in this circumstance.
I do not believe Dr. King would have picked these 6 students in this situation as a rallying point.
I don’t see Dr. King rallying everyone around 6 guys who beat up 1 guy.
Even with bad mojo on both sides, there is nothing to defend about 6-on-1.
When I first read the 6-on-1 story, I figured the protests were for the one black kid that got beat up by six white kids. It took me a few minutes to grasp that it was opposite.
This should be a great discussion. Great article, Mike.
I just want to remind all commenters that I will delete any racial slurs according to our community guidelines, so let’s keep this at an intellectually-stimulating level.
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0 0 Where’s Jena High School located? Is it here in Idaho Falls or did this happen somewhere else?
I also think it’s sad that J.Jackson & Al Sharpton have nothing better to do than sit around and wait for “racial issues” to occur around our country just so they can jump in the middle of it and start pointing fingers and waving the race card.
I have a question….Where were they BEFORE hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans? Were they there helping their fellow black brothers & sisters evacuate, and/or organize evacuation plans, help with transportation, etc? No! But they sure had no problem getting their two days later to criticize the whole operation. In my opinion, they’re just like “ambulance chasers”. You know…those lawyers that follow ambulances around waiting for an accident to happen so they can be the first ones to cash in on someone else’s misfortune.
These two want the black communities around the US (and the world for that matter) to think they’re part of the solution, but in all actuality, their a big part of the problem with race relations in this country!
Joe’s first sentence speaks volumes and hit the nail on the head.
Good post Mike.
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0 0 Where the big mistake in this case made was in turning a schoolyard fight into an adult criminal case. If the authorities had handled this fight like any other school yard fight, which is what this was, then things would never have blown up.
The question is why did it get sent up to adult court where it never belonged and how do you get to attempted murder charges on a kid who clearly wasn’t hurt badly seeing as he was out partying later that night. Is race the reason? I don’t know but something sure stinks in how it was handled. And when you’ve been shafted by the justice system time and time again as blacks have in the south its not surprising and perhaps not wrong that they would see racism here.
BTW, I think Sharpton and Jackson are clowns as well. I’m just not sure they are wrong in this case.
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0 0 Should be interesting to watch a bunch of white folks from Idaho try and have a debate about racial issues.
Sitting back with my popcorn…
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0 0 I’m an African American male in my late 40’s and I agree with what most of the posters are saying about this topic.
What I am wondering is, how do you know ALL of these people that are on this site,having an itelligent dicussion on this topic, are white? You don’t, plain and simple. So why don’t you put down your popcorn and try posting a comment with a little more substance?
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0 0 Also JP, don’t assume if we live in SE Idaho it means we have always been here and know nothing else. I was born here, but have lived around the U.S. and certainly have experienced more than someone who has never left or travelled much.
On that note, I believe Jackson and Sharpton seem to use incidents like this to further their own political careers and egos. Although one must admit there are several areas in the south who are still behind the times in progress of race relations. If high schools are still holding segregated proms, how can things move forward?
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0 0 I think JP just meant a joke, you know with the generalization about whitebread Idaho. It’s a joke, I don’t think harm was meant. Sure it didn’t add to the conversation, but it was good for a chuckle.
On the real issue though, I was reading more and found that one or two of the black kids had previous assault charges. It was not like it was their first school yard scuffle.
There is some bad energy in that town that they need to work through, but I think Sharpton and Jackson hurt the black cause more than helped it in this instance.
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0 0 Is JP JeremyPlo? If not they write similarly…following the verb–try–with the conjunction–and–as in, try and have a debate instead of, try to have a debate.
Just wondering.
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0 0 Maybe one of the black kids did have a prior assault charge. However I think that the tension came about because there was an ongoing dispute between black students and white students with some guilt on either side. The white kids involved were given a 3 day suspension while the black kids were charged with attempted murder. And I could be wrong but the way I understand it, at least one of the black students has been jailed since December. On the surface it looks to me like injustice. Does anyone know if the kid with the prior charge is the one who got tossed in jail with the key thrown away?
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0 0 Earl-
The assailant in jail did have a prior assault conviction and he is still in custody on that charge as well due to the fact he was on probation at the time he assaulted the victim in the current case. The media, Sharpton, and Jackson have seemed to gloss over this point to try and make their point(s). Which adds fuel to the fire that the media and Sharpton types aren’t telling the full story….and why they don’t find widespread support.
Regarding the post in #5, I suspect JP was trying to add a little humor to the situation as Joe pointed out. However, I was glad to see sayit challenge this view. When Richard Butler had his Aryan compound in northern Idaho many people thought of Idaho as nothing more than a racist haven. Obviously, that is far from the truth as much as the view that people in Idaho are somehow a bunch of racists running around spouting off.
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0 0 Just for whatever it is worth, doesn’t anyone remember Al Sharpton and the whole Tawana Brawley incident???:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawana_Brawley
Al Sharpton championed the cause of this young black woman who had been attacked by white cops and left for dead, covered in racial epithets and feces….except the whole thing was a publicity stunt, engineered, in part, by “the Reverend” Al Sharpton. Why would anyone listen to anything he has to say? It isn’t about his race; the man is a liar and a fraud.
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0 0 ps I found JP’s comment (#5) hysterical; I don’t think it was a commentary on the whole Aryan/Idaho, blah blah blah, I think he simply is pointing out that Idaho doesn’t exactly enjoy a lot of cultural diversity.
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0 0 Excellent reminder on Sharpton. How soon we forget the history of these guys. Kind of like Jesse Jackson’s skeleton coming out of the closet that he committed adultery on his wife of 38 years.
http://www.realchange.org/jackson.htm
These two have lost the moral authority to represent the civil rights movement. It is amazing they continue to stay in power and speaks volumes about the need for new leaders to take over and redirect the civil rights movement in a postive direction.
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0 0 I had never heard of the Tawana Brawley incident, thanks for posting that. It is unimaginable that anyone listens to Sharpton anymore after that. To top it off, the article said that Sharpton has never admitted he was wrong, or apologized for accusing those people.
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0 0 Just like Sharpton never admitted he was wrong or expressed regret over his blasting the Duke Lacrosse players after it was determined the boys were totally innocent of the charges. He went there ready to “lynch” those Duke students.
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0 0 I personally don’t think those Lacrosse players were “totally” innocent. Sure, they were aquitted, but only for lack of evidence. I think the police fouled this one up. That and the rich white boys with their good lawyers.
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0 0 Have to disagree there, this was a case of an overzealous prosecutor corting the Black vote. Lack of evidence — of course!! It was because there was none, zip, nada, nothing. No evidence whats so ever and an every changing story from the accused, and an airtight alibi from one of the accused. But that didn’t stop the Reverand Sharton and others.
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0 0 airtight alibi my keister! Anybody can get an alibi at anytime. I’ve got half a dozen friends that would be my alibi anytime I need them. That means nothing! For arguments sake….lets say one of them DID have an alibi. What about the others? Something happened and we’ll never know. YOU certainly don’t know. All you know is what the papers and the news stations WANT you to know.
Those guys were guilty, plain and simple. But hey…money will get you either a reduced sentence or freedom. Look at OJ Simson. Money talks and BullCaca walks.
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0 0 So, I guess former Duke Lacross player Reid Seligman being on an ATM Camera many blocks away from the place of attack at 12:30 a.m. when the attack was supposedly taking place isn’t a good alibi?
How come there was no attacker DNA skin under the finger nails of the “victim”? This is always checked as part of the protocol in rape kits. There was nothing there!
Sharpton is unapologetic about Brawley, Duke, and people let him get away with this. Why? He is wrong more than he is right and blatantly goes along with lies and omitting the truth. What is the problem in the civil rights community that they allow this guy to be a spokesman for them?
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0 0 the folks who allow Shapton and Jackson to speak for them is simple because they justify and excuse their followers who don’t want to take responsibility for their unproductive lives… and the media continually invites these ’spokespeople’ on their shows for interviews, opinions, etc. which gives the Sharptons and Jacksons credibility… twisted as it sounds, what other reason would they continue to get support from the people they claim to represent, they simply say what they want to hear and they are flambouant and obnoxious to get attention.
Any other ideas on this?
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0 0 In response to post #4, 6 on 1 does not sound much like a simple schoolyard fight.
That must have been horrifying.
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0 0 Stop blaming whites for everything Return to top
After watching Fox News, as far as the demonstrations in Jena, La., how come slick Sharpton and liar Jesse Jackson did not question the lockup of the kid that was still in jail? Apparently he had been in trouble before!
Black parents need to instill in their kids to stay in school, and most of all stop telling your kids the white man is your enemy and won’t let you succeed. I have heard this from a lot of black kids.
Blacks also need to overcome people like Jesse and Sharpton and the the so-called hate speakers like Farrakhan. This thing about overcoming needs to be put to rest. This mess doesn’t solve black’s problems, but only tries to upset the ones that choose to believe these racist black speakers.
Yes, there are people who wish not to associate with other people. I like to meet all kinds of people. Hatred is not what I was taught — this bashing of Bush and Jews needs to stop! Sharpton and Jackson only keep up this mess! They only create the problem. They are the race hustlers.
The people of Jena need to reach out to the whites instead of acting the way they act. If you choose to live where all blacks live that’s your choice! I have lived here with my family for 15 years. Never had a problem trying to find somewhere to live. I was told by a black person that I didn’t act like I was black. That should tell you something. I don’t go around with that hangdog look blaming the white man for everything. Kingsport is not a segregated city.
As for what is happening to black males, stop blaming the white man for you going to jail. Get up off your butt, go to school, get a trade. Nobody told you to sell drugs. You chose that. You dropped out of school! And even in school, I was told that there is still a black hall in a school in Kingsport. And the blacks brag about that. This is 2007, I know people that have graduated, and they said its still there. White people had to go through one door and come out the other so they didn’t have to go down the hall.
As a black, this makes me angry. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I am not saying some of these things don’t exist, but we need to get along. A lot of you still have a chip on your shoulder and you try to blame everything that happens to you on the whites.
Lottie Williams
Kingsport, TN
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I think the facts that Mike stated are basically correct. The one thing that was omitted is that the students who put the noose on the tree were suspended all right, but only for 3 days. The principal called it a “youthful stunt.” I understand that there was other racial tension and harrassment that went on for a while. Here is a link from snopes that gives a good background:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/jena6.asp
I think that the black students involved may have been treated more harshly than the white students. It sounds like there was some guilt on both sides. However, Mike is correct that when Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton get involved, they are so polarizing that sometimes their causes would be better served without their support.