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16 de Septiembre, 2007
A Tiny Bit of Justice for a Boy from Jena
Categorized under | Tags: Hope, Jena 6, The Haunted Land
Judges rule teen should not have been tried as adult in racially tinged case.
Jena, Louisiana - A state appeals court Friday tossed out the aggravated battery conviction that could have sent a black teenager to prison for 15 years in last year's beating of a white classmate in the racially tense Louisiana town of Jena.
Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the December beating, should not have been tried as an adult on the battery charge, the state Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles ruled.
Bell is one of six black Jena High School students charged in an attack on fellow student Justin Barker, and one of five originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder.
The charges brought widespread criticism that blacks were being treated more harshly than whites after racial confrontations and fights at their school.
Attorney Louis Scott of Monroe said he didn't know whether Bell, whose bond was set at $90,000, would get out of jail immediately.
"It means that at the present time all charges are dismissed," Scott said. "But 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.
"We're working on that right now," he said.
—Judges rule teen should not have been tried as adult in racially tinged case.,
I LIKES IT. Because honestly. If you hang up a noose in my area to send a message to blacks, or if you in any way use a symbol of hate to try and scare The Brown™, well. I think I said it in a post or two ago. I ain't Gandhi, and in an instance like this I will beat your ass. (I mean, unless a kid did it, in which case I'd call Carmen D. to come and have conversation with them, she's very good at conversation. And unless I was surrounded by many people with said nooses, in which case I'd do my best to either become Bruce Lee, or get better at conversation very quickly). I'd sure want to, at least. You don't bring up those symbols and as a means of scaring people unless you want a big beatdown. That's my philosophical stance on it. Using a noose, or even a term of hate, to me, is like saying "Oh, oh, oh, please beat my ass, please! My bones feel too solid, I need some pain in my joints to bring me some critical thinking skills."
Yet, I know...that doesn't bring peace to the world. Only more war. It doesn't solve these racial fires burning underground...it only kindles them. In fact, back in '92, when Harrisburg PA was still sore from recent racial conflict, my friend and I were cornered in an alley by two black kids and scared a bit. And that caused me to write a song in reaction that was very unkind. (I still wince thinking about that song.) So we see that racially-motivated violence only begets more of the same fear that feeds it, only inspires more violence in one form or another. I know in my mind that responding violently or with the same energy is not the answer. Just my initial reaction. It's too easy to respond to hate with more hate. Too easy. Hate seems to call to itself, to its other pieces, always seeking to amalgamate all its loose fragments, to rebuild and reform as large as it can. Like a creature you shatter to pieces...with peace.
And after all, that's only what I say now. Perhaps if I saw some white supremacists burning crosses or hanging nooses, a feeling of calm and understanding would wash over me. I mean, hell. Anything's possible in this world. George W. Bush became president of the USA, after all.
Either way, I'm very happy for Mychal Bel. Here's hoping he gets out of jail and can chill in a place where people don't feel the need to remind him that he lives in a Haunted Land. Wherever the hell that might be.
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Comentarios (4)
janna dijo:
Beautifully stated. Some people really seem to deserve a good beatin, but you said it: violence only begets more of the same. If only the peaceful, thinking mode was as easy to summon in ourselves as the unthinking violent one.
That's a good victory though; hopefully all the boys will go free.
Palabras por janna spat forth on el 16 de Septiembre, 2007 at 09:49 AM
RC dijo:
If I was facing a bunch of people giving me the evil eye and carrying nooses I would take the advice of the Old Masters, not just Bruce Lee, and tell my unlucky anatomy: "FEETS, DO YO' STUFF". Better to live to fight another day than hang around to do some serious swinging.
All the same, those little Southern towns can be like a bad ride in a Time Machine. Hard to see how the end of this story will be a happy one. The kids will still be living there.
Palabras por RC spat forth on el 16 de Septiembre, 2007 at 10:20 AM
Carmen D. dijo:
First, that graphic is deeply stirring. Bravo. Just a little hint of the terror, eh --even in blue skies. You, of course, are plenty good at conversation. And what I've learned is that conversation and peaceful negotiation only work with some of the people some of the time. There are times you have to "fight" to thrive. What was that about walking softly with a big stick...the sticks are our voices and our collective will to fight injustice whenever and wherever we find it!
Palabras por Carmen D. spat forth on el 16 de Septiembre, 2007 at 10:39 AM
Carmen D. dijo:
"...Hate seems to call to itself, to its other pieces, always seeking to amalgamate all its loose fragments, to rebuild and reform as large as it can. Like a creature you shatter to pieces...with peace."
Yes!!
Palabras por Carmen D. spat forth on el 16 de Septiembre, 2007 at 10:43 AM