Continued from Issues stemming from Jena 6 Part 2...
MH: Well then here is the crux. The black student wasn’t arrested for sitting under the tree; they left nooses basically taunting him. Not hanging him outright. So what would have happened if he ignored it?
mike vass: Who knows? I feel a noose is more than a taunt. In the South that's a death threat.
MH: Agreed, a noose is more than a taunt.
mike vass: somehow I don't think it would have ended with the threat.
MH: We will never know, but the escalations that followed were done by blacks retaliating with physical harm.
mike vass: If you don't respond then it's a sign of fear and/or weakness and the aggressor pushes to see how far they can go. I agree that they reacted badly. But that was a death threat. Not justifying it, just a point.
MH: So then report it to the authorities, we have that right now as opposed to the 60's when we were on our own.
mike vass: True and I agree they should have. But to charge attempted murder is going overboard. Especially when other fights around that time, by whites against blacks, were never given charges most of the time and the ones that were got misdemeanors.
MH: Why is it overboard? It was 6 to 1 right? Were blacks beaten up? If the colors were reversed, how would it play out?
mike vass: Yes. And it would be like in West Virginia with Megan Williams.
MH: This is not in WV
mike vass: Fine, but nothing so serious would have happened. It wouldn't make the news or the blogs. You know that.
MH: But would justice be served? That is the important thing, not whether I can see it on CNN. If it doesn’t make it on TV and the people have been prosecuted correctly then I don’t need to see it. TV would probably put a negative spin on it anyway.
mike vass: Does justice get served now? Jonathan Riches took 43 years to get arrested and convicted and not a blip on national news. And as true as your words are, it isn't getting prosecuted correctly.
MH: And it’s on the TV, so what is the difference?
mike vass: For every one case we do hear of there are 15 that don't get any attention. I mean it took months to get this news out on the Jena 6, and bloggers were speaking about it for months. Oh, by the way, I just heard one kid just had his conviction overturned. Which is more just.
MH: But it didn’t make a difference, the boy is still in jail.
Continued in Part 4...
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