What do I mean? A news story was brought to my attention about a group of young adults, called the Jena 6.
Seems their trouble started when they decided to sit under a whites only tree.
Yep...you read right... A whites only tree! Go ahead...check your calendar...it is 2007, not 1957.
Apparently the only barber shop in town, only cuts white peoples hair.

Now I know that there are towns out there, that are a little backwards, and still like they harvest gold stove, and avocado green fridge....but please...this is 2007! Things like trees and barber shops for whites only, is not only bassackwards, but an embarrassment to the country and to mankind.

Those in charge there disgust me.

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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

As usual, there's more to the story then meets the eye.

It didn't begin as white/black thing but it ended-up that way. It began as a turf thing. Not that turf wars are any more sensible, it's just that folks immediately drew the racial aspect because the turf war involved kids who were of different pigment groups.

Group A had counted that particular tree as "theirs".

Group B wanted it.

Groups C-Z didn't give a *****. But forget about the majority of kids, white & black, who used to get along okay and go to school functions and have a good time. Instead, let's concentrate on the two groups at odds over a damned tree.

The supergeniuses in Group A retaliated by hanging a noose in the tree as an implied threat.

The Group B brainiacs responded with personal threats, to which the supergeniuses in Group A responded in a like manner.

A Group A ringleader walked-out of school alone and was jumped by several Group B brainiacs and was severely beaten.

Group B Brainiacs were charged with attempted murder.

Professional Race Relations Magnates recognized a pigmentation difference between the groups and branded it a racial issue.

Newspapers love a race conflict.

Here we are.

B

If group A is white, and want something as "theirs", a tree, doesn't that sound a bit ridiculous? Do they have white bars, buses, stores, down there in Jena? Even if that tree is known as being a white only tree for a century, it is no excuse - school administration, the local DA and anyone else should be able to recognize how stupid, how anachronistic, such a thing is.

I am as conservative as they come, and feel that CNN and the main stream media on the whole are looking to bait the public with sensationalism, but this is racism pure and simple. And for all white liberal minds out there that think racism is dead and gone, take a hard look.

The job of the county prosecutor, or DA, is hard when stuff like this happens, but they must regard justice as blind. It seems as if the charges ARE unevenly stacked against blacks in this case. Shame on the prosecutor.

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DS
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Las Vegas NV

Yeah, nooses hanging from a tree in the South have no racial connotations.

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1984 300TD

Found this article on Jena and their supergeniuses and braniacs (which apparently includes most of the residents there).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20218937/site/newsweek/page/0/

Maybe if you had told me this happened in the 70's, I might have believed that....sometimes civilzation takes a little longer to reach certain places.

__________________
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

The entire issue can be resolved with the application of one Stihl chainsaw. Let them fight over lumber rights instead.

I didn't say it made sense, I said it was a dispute between two groups, neither of which represented a significant proportion of students, who wanted to sit under the damned tree. Could they all have sat there? Uh, yeah. But as you know, kids are inherently tribal. In some cities wearing the wrong color combination in the wrong neighborhood is all it takes.

I have to admit, this part is even a bit funny. Terrible, but funny:

"a white student pulled a gun on a group of black students at a gas station, claiming self-defense. The black students wrestled the gun away and reported the incident to police. They were charged with assault and robbery of the gun."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220

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1984 300TD

Also left out from your analysis was:
Shortly thereafter, some members of Group B tried to gain admission to a house party comprised of mainly those from Group A. A member of Group B was beaten up by some from Group A at the party. The first punch was thrown by a member of Group A, who received simple battery charges and probation as a result. If they can argue that the tennis shoes of those from Group B were deadly weapons and grounds for attempted murder charges, why not the fists of those from Group A? It's pretty backwards in Jena, they probably think a Mercedes is some sort of high trimmed Studebaker.

That tree was turned into fire wood just recently.

__________________
'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

Generalizing about people is despicable.

Yep, that story is accurate, insofar as it goes. That racial polarization happened AFTER the professional race relations groups got hold of the story.

It had all of the elements that make good news copy or cinema. Even better, as Tankdriver demonstrated, we all have a preconceived notion as to how people think, even if we don't know them.

Let's say your boy did a dumb, extremely violent thing and you are searching for an explanation as to how he could have done it. Somebody suggests that it is not his fault at all -- that it was in fact, the victim's fault. And lays-out an alternative explanation that fits the facts. Given the actual long-term history of the area, what would you do?

B

Now there's an unimpeachable source.

So why nooses do you think? Was it a Wild West reference? I don't know who hung them, but nooses hanging off trees have a meaning in the South. That's not a generalization, that's a fact.




Do you have a source that contradicts them? Do you believe they made up a verifiable story? Why? What evidence do you have that they did? If you can impeach the source, I'd like to see it.

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1984 300TD

I didn't know a noose was an illegal form of expression. Nor did I know that nearly killing a boy who may or may not have put the noose in the tree was punishable by a severe beating. Maybe you are a lawyer and can explain it to me.

Look, I am not defending Group A. They are a bunch of dumbasses that used a symbol of intimidation to send a message. Would you suggest that they represent the majority of white students PRIOR to the events? Would you say the students who beat the boy senseless represent the majority of black students PRIOR to the events?

You see events with your prejudices.

B

Did I say it was illegal? No, I said it has racial connotations. Which it does. And is not a generalization.
As for nearly killing a boy, I've read he had a concussion and was released from the hospital the next day.

I do not and did not suggest that the hangers of the nooses represent the majority of anything. Whether they chose a racist symbol out of racism or stupidity is not the point. The DA coming down hard on the sit-in students, black kids getting arrested for taking a gun away from a threatening white person, and the charges of attempted murder for a fight at school while no white kids have been charged for anything speak for themselves.

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1984 300TD