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Brownbeauty123
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Brownbeauty123
Post Number: 2122
Registered: 03-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2007 - 11:08 pm: | 
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Mellencamp Song About 'Jena 6 ' Gets Under the Skin of the Mayor
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iLrTu5j8j4sxFG_2EZU0I6PtR5pQD8S3FSLO2
JENA, La. (AP) — A video in which rapper-actor Mos Def asked students around the country to walk out Oct. 1 to support the "Jena Six" escaped comment by this town's mayor. But when John Mellencamp sang, "Jena, take your nooses down," he took issue.
"The town of Jena has for months been mischaracterized in the media and portrayed as the epicenter of hatred, racism and a place where justice is denied," Jena Mayor Murphy R. McMillin wrote in a statement on town letterhead faxed on Friday to The Associated Press.
He said he had previously stayed quiet, hoping that the town's courtesy to people who have visited over the past year would speak for itself. "However, the Mellencamp video is so inflammatory, so defamatory, that a line has been crossed and enough is enough."
Mellencamp could not comment immediately because he was on a plane from California to Indiana and had not heard about McMillin's comments, publicist Bob Merlis said late Friday.
A brief note from Mellencamp posted Thursday on his Web site says he is telling a story, not reporting. "The song is not written as an indictment of the people of Jena but, rather, as a condemnation of racism," it says.
Nooses hung briefly from a big oak tree outside Jena High School a year ago, after a black freshman asked whether black students could sit under it. A white student was beaten unconscious three months later, in December.
Six black students, four of them 17 years old and legally adults, were arrested. Five were initially charged with attempted murder, although that charge has been reduced to aggravated second-degree battery as four of the older youths have been arraigned. The only youth tried so far was convicted, but that conviction was overturned on appeal and the case was sent to juvenile court.
Mellencamp's song opens, "An all-white jury hides the executioner's face; See how we are, me and you?" As he sings, images of Jena, the high school and the tree are followed by video from the 1960s, including civil rights marchers, police beatings, and President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King speaking. Still images include one of a protest sign reading, "God demands segregation," a stylized drawing of people in Ku Klux Klan robes and an older image of a black man in shackles, begging.
"I do not want to diminish the impression that the hanging of the nooses has had on good people," McMillin wrote. "I do recognized that what happened is insulting and hurtful."
But, he said, "To put the incident in Jena in the same league as those who were murdered in the 1960s cheapens their sacrifice and insults their memory."
At McMillin's request, the Jena Town Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to create an interracial committee to study racial relations and suggest solutions to any problems.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 10202
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 07, 2007 - 11:23 am: |
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Jena's mayor declares: "To put the incident in Jena in the same league as those who were murdered in the 1960s cheapens their sacrifice and insults their memory."
This is true to some extent. Teen-aged boys roughing each other up over a prank is not on a par with the do-or-die encounters that characterized the civil right struggle in the 60s. But - what the mayor should consider is that the punishment should fit the crime, and that's what the uproar is all about.
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A_womon
Veteran Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1947
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 07, 2007 - 11:42 am: |
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This wasn't teenaged boys "roughing each other up"
This was (white) boys hanging nooses in a tree to send other (AFrican american)boys a message who wanted to sit under the tree. And about the harrassing comments that the white boys kept making toward the AA boys until the AA boys broke them off some! Big Time! And AS USUAL because the white boys got the snot beat out of them and ran to daddy--the authorities jumped in with both feet and to "teach the AA's a lesson" TRIED to throw the book at them. Calling 16 and 17 year old boys adults and intending to try them for attempted murder. A CLEAR REFLECTION OF THE TREATMENT OF BLACKS IN THE 60's! Yes SOME white people ARE trying to turn back the clock. Just look at what the white media's comments were when a white cop probably 5 times bigger than the 15 yr old AA GIRL he supposedly couldn't control and had to resort to punching her in the head and spraying her TWICE with mace because she bit him. PUHLEEZE! The media as well as the officer's superiors CLAIM the cop was JUSTIFIED in his treatment of this very skinny girl. Right. Since when is it okay for a grown 250 lb msn to PUNCH anyone in the HEAD WITH HIS FIST? |
A_womon
Veteran Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1948
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 07, 2007 - 11:47 am: |
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Not to mention the fact that right here in Ohio, a female (white) judge gave an AA young man 134 years WITHOUT PAROLE for a home invasion robbery, where no one was hurt. The concensus is that if the home he had invaded hadn't belonged to a rich white German Village couple, he wouldn't have gotten nearly as harsh a sentence! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 10204
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 07, 2007 - 12:05 pm: |
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In the Jena6 case, the crime the blacks guys were arrested for was for beating up a white boy. The whole Jena6 protest was to call attention to how the harsh punishment meted out to blacks frequently does not fit the crime. All the rest is backstory. |
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 2757
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 07, 2007 - 06:31 pm: |
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"Not to mention the fact that right here in Ohio, a female (white) judge gave an AA young man 134 years WITHOUT PAROLE for a...........rich white German Village couple, he wouldn't have gotten nearly as harsh a sentence!"
A_womon, I'm not surprised. There often times seems to be no justice in the justice system (depending on how much money you have). I've never understood the glaring inconsistencies in the justice system. I'm sorry to hear this but when you pick up and gun or commit a crime, you put your freedom (and life) at risk. Unfortunately, criminals don't think about this until they are caught.
People kill and brutally rape women and children and don't receive a fifth of the sentencing this knucklehead did. The woman who drowned all five of her children is free today after serving less than three years in jail because of legal hocus pocus and maneuvering. WTF????
I have to go back to Ohio in a few weeks and I don't look forward to seeing the hard core Coon culture that has taken root in the community I grew up in as a child. The killings (black on black) and street crime continues unabated. It's sad. Too bad he didn't invade the home of some poor whites or blacks. He probably could have plea bargained and got a suspended sentence and parole.
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A_womon
Veteran Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1951
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 12:27 am: |
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AND you know this! This is what is so frustrating! MURDERERS OF CHILDREN get what amounts to a slap on the wrist yet NO ONE was even so much as BRUISED in the home invasion and he gets 134 years without parole! And the judge said something to the affect of "We are not going to have respectable people terrorized by the likes of you!" when she passed sentence.
There often times seems to be no justice in the justice system ...
If you are a black man. As it was, so it remains! You'd think these young thug types would wise up to this fact and THINK about what can HAPPEN to them in the court systems. It's often worse than anything they can dream of!
... He probably could have plea bargained and got a suspended sentence and parole.
So very True, NTFS. I hear that this may be a case for the supreme court for cruel and unusual punishment. Let's see how that turns out... |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 5430
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 12:41 pm: |
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Everybody involved dropped the ball on this--it does not augur well for the future-- |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 10220
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 01:13 pm: |
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Wow! What a brilliant conclusion. What would we do without chrishayden to interpret things for us? yawn. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 5433
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 02:39 pm: |
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Cynique, you haven't been the same since you got drunk and slapped Mahalia Jackson backstage at the Newport Jazz festival.
I warned you about drinking that Golden Spur. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 10222
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 03:17 pm: |
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Have you ever known me to heed anything you say, chrishayden? Why would I? Anybody who wore their hair like Mahalia deserved to be slapped. Now you know why you got slapped. |
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 2763
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 04:44 pm: |
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You'd think these young thug types would wise up to this fact and THINK about what can HAPPEN to them in the court systems."
A_womon, I have asked myself this same question a million times. You would think these young men would realize the consequences of picking up a gun, car jacking, physical assaults, murder, rape, selling hard drugs, armed robbery, etc. They see what happened to their fathers and those around them who choose the path of crime. The penal system is horrific and I have never understood anyone's desire to become caught up in it. I was a correction officer before so I should know.
"It's often worse than anything they can dream of!"
No doubt. But there is a a component that has not been discussed here. These thugs "have no fear" of the police or the criminal justice system. They see it as a military veteran sees his or her surviving a war. They wear their incarceration time as a badge of honor and celebrate it with prison tattoos. The world they live in is nothing like the world normal people live. The world they live in is the world of Bizarro with a harden criminal twist.
" I hear that this may be a case for the supreme court for cruel and unusual punishment."
Could be. Depends on what is criminal past is. There is no three strikes rule in Ohio. I don't feel sorry for him but I do feel his sentencing is excessive and somewhat cruel. I don't agree with it but this bad ass wannabe Negro put himself in the situation he is in. He is not an unwitting victim but a casualty of convoluted justice system.
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A_womon
Veteran Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1953
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 05:42 pm: |
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I don't agree with it but this bad ass wannabe Negro put himself in the situation he is in.
True. But I feel his punishment is excessive AND cruel. It's the "without parole" that makes it cruel and unusual. And I don't think his prior record should have anything to do with it. We have had a ton of home invasion/robberies before and after his case and NONE of those people got anywhere NEAR that. So I think when you're looking for something to measure his sentence up against, these other cases should be the measuring stick.
I believe he's 24 yrs old. So if he lives to be 70 that's 46 years behind bars for robbery. Even REPEAT CHILD RAPISTS don't get that! This young man hasn't murdered, raped, or beat up this couple. So that's what makes this sentece both cruel and unusual in my way of thinking. |
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 2765
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 - 09:29 pm: |
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"And I don't think his prior record should have anything to do with it."
Well, it does. Prior records are taken into consideration when sentencing. If a convicted criminal is up for sentencing, the DA will look at the individuals past history. If the person has an ongoing history of priors and repeats, it can impact on the sentencing (e.g. the three strikes statue). The criminal has clearly demonstrated a propensity for pathological and violent behavior.
Prior history is fueling the ongoing debate with rapists and child sex offenders. If you examine their past arrest and conviction records, you will see they have a history of this kind of perverted behavior. Most of the time they take first time convictions into consideration. But if you have a documented history of illegal or violent offenses, the judge has the responsibility to protect the public. The judge has no responsibility to the criminal since they have continually made choices to indulge in crime.
I don't know what the history of this young man is, but I do agree his sentence is excessive. I have been very clear about this.
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