In trying to oppose the bully, Obama embraces him
When I was growing up, my dad was emphatic on the point that schoolyard fights were inevitable, and that I should have enough courage and self-respect never to back down for a fair fight even if the guy was bigger than I was.
The key word is fair.
The story of the 'Jena Six' has been so politicized and turned into a racial issue that reasonable conversation about the issue is hard to come by. So let's review the facts.
There was an oak tree on school grounds which some claim was known as 'the white oak,' and a segregated area where only white students were allowed to gather. Others- including school officials- deny this, claiming that it was a common gathering place for groups of both races, and for racially mixed groups, as well.
Two nooses (not, as reported, three- three nooses being a hallmark of the Ku Klux Klan) were hung from the tree thereafter. Whatever the tree's history, it was a clear case of attempted racial intimidation, and the students responsible were suspended and forced to attend an alternative school for a month, and to face two weeks' "in-school suspension" (whatever that oxymoron might involve)thereafter. In my view, the punishment should have been more severe, but that's another issue. Suffice it to say that stories that they were suspended for only three days are untrue.
Two months later, a wing of the high school was burned, a case of arson which remains unsolved. That weekend two fights between African American and white students broke out. The crises culminated in a brawl on Dec. 4 in which a single white student- not, to my knowledge, in any way implicated in the noose incident- was stomped by six black students.
This was not a school yard fight. It was an assault- a concerted attempt to inflict serious bodily harm on the kid. In its own way, it was nothing more or less than itself an attempted lynching, and apparently a racial lynching at that. The District Attorney quite properly filed criminal charges attempted against the six. A reasonable argument can be made that the charge- attempted murder- was excessive.
One of the black students- seventeen year old Mychal Ball- was tried on those charges and convicted by an all-white jury (none of the African American residents summoned for jury duty in the case showed up) on reduced (and surely appropriate) charges of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Contrary to reports, Ball- who did have a high grade point average- was not an honor student with no previous criminal record. In fact, at the time he was on probation for at least two previous counts of battery and for criminal damage to property. His conviction was later reversed- not on the merits, but on the ground that he should not have been tried as an adult.
Was the prosecution of this case excessively zealous? That argument can be reasonably made. That prosecution per se was not appropriate, on the other hand, is simply not a reasonable position.
To top it off, Federal investigators have concluded that in fact the noose incident and the stomping were not, in fact, even related!
Five other black students still face criminal charges for acting like bullies. Again, an argument can be made that attempted murder charges are excessive. But the charges on which Ball was in fact convicted seem to me not only to be completely reasonable, but to be so reasonable that no reasonable person could disagree with that assessment.
Let's be utterly clear about this point: hanging nooses from trees and making other allusions to the lynching of African Americans in the past is disgusting and utterly unacceptable behavior, and the Jena, Louisiana high school students responsible- if they can be identified- should at the very least be suspended from school and forced to undergo counseling. There is no excuse for such behavior. None. And no decent person should defend it.
In fact, the students in question should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But the failure of the authorities to act appropriately in this matter does not mean that they should be similary derelict in the case of the Jena Six.
Barack Obama is wrong. Two wrongs simply don't make a right.
The key word is fair.
The story of the 'Jena Six' has been so politicized and turned into a racial issue that reasonable conversation about the issue is hard to come by. So let's review the facts.
There was an oak tree on school grounds which some claim was known as 'the white oak,' and a segregated area where only white students were allowed to gather. Others- including school officials- deny this, claiming that it was a common gathering place for groups of both races, and for racially mixed groups, as well.
Two nooses (not, as reported, three- three nooses being a hallmark of the Ku Klux Klan) were hung from the tree thereafter. Whatever the tree's history, it was a clear case of attempted racial intimidation, and the students responsible were suspended and forced to attend an alternative school for a month, and to face two weeks' "in-school suspension" (whatever that oxymoron might involve)thereafter. In my view, the punishment should have been more severe, but that's another issue. Suffice it to say that stories that they were suspended for only three days are untrue.
Two months later, a wing of the high school was burned, a case of arson which remains unsolved. That weekend two fights between African American and white students broke out. The crises culminated in a brawl on Dec. 4 in which a single white student- not, to my knowledge, in any way implicated in the noose incident- was stomped by six black students.
This was not a school yard fight. It was an assault- a concerted attempt to inflict serious bodily harm on the kid. In its own way, it was nothing more or less than itself an attempted lynching, and apparently a racial lynching at that. The District Attorney quite properly filed criminal charges attempted against the six. A reasonable argument can be made that the charge- attempted murder- was excessive.
One of the black students- seventeen year old Mychal Ball- was tried on those charges and convicted by an all-white jury (none of the African American residents summoned for jury duty in the case showed up) on reduced (and surely appropriate) charges of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Contrary to reports, Ball- who did have a high grade point average- was not an honor student with no previous criminal record. In fact, at the time he was on probation for at least two previous counts of battery and for criminal damage to property. His conviction was later reversed- not on the merits, but on the ground that he should not have been tried as an adult.
Was the prosecution of this case excessively zealous? That argument can be reasonably made. That prosecution per se was not appropriate, on the other hand, is simply not a reasonable position.
To top it off, Federal investigators have concluded that in fact the noose incident and the stomping were not, in fact, even related!
Five other black students still face criminal charges for acting like bullies. Again, an argument can be made that attempted murder charges are excessive. But the charges on which Ball was in fact convicted seem to me not only to be completely reasonable, but to be so reasonable that no reasonable person could disagree with that assessment.
Let's be utterly clear about this point: hanging nooses from trees and making other allusions to the lynching of African Americans in the past is disgusting and utterly unacceptable behavior, and the Jena, Louisiana high school students responsible- if they can be identified- should at the very least be suspended from school and forced to undergo counseling. There is no excuse for such behavior. None. And no decent person should defend it.
In fact, the students in question should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But the failure of the authorities to act appropriately in this matter does not mean that they should be similary derelict in the case of the Jena Six.
Barack Obama is wrong. Two wrongs simply don't make a right.
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