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Reactions to the Jena 6 incident were riotous. African-Americans in Jena and the civil rights activists that supported them cried foul, claiming that the charges brought against the six teenagers were so excessive and racially motivated. The victim was knocked unconscious. Instead of focusing on the victim's pain and suffering, media sources point out that the 17-year-old, Justin Barker, was not even hospitalized after being treated in the emergency room for his injuries. For two and a half years Barker's family suffered emotionally due to the aftermath of the incident but all the media could focus on were the perceived civil rights of his assailants.
Even after the charges were dropped or reduced, defense lawyers still claimed that the district attorney was "overreaching" by charging one suspect with aggravated second-degree battery because no weapon was involved (Witt). One of the African-American student's father claimed that the charges were "ridiculous," (Witt).
A long history of racial tension in Louisiana fueled the fiery reactions and led to a series of aftershocks. On the other side of the case, white observers and community members...
The case raised poignant questions not just about race relations in the American South, but also about legal issues surrounding hate crimes and freedom of expression. Even if white students at Jena High School hung nooses from a tree, no actual lynching took place in Jena during the time in question. The white students acted within their constitutional rights of free expression. Those students may not have even intended the hangman's noose to be a symbol of racism. The hangman's noose is a symbol, whereas the beating was an act. Overreacting to the nooses undermines genuine hate crimes.
Works Cited
Bello, Marisol. "Louisiana Beating Stirs Racial Anger." USA Today. 7 Sept 2007. Retrieved 5 Oct 2009 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-06-jena_N.htm
"Plea Bargain Wraps Up "Jena 6" Case." CBS News. 26 Jun 2009. Retrieved 5 Oct 2009 from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/26/national/main5116800.shtml
Witt, Howard. "Charge Reduced in 'Jena 6' Case.'" Chicago Tribune. 26 Jun 2007. Retrieved 5 Oct 2009 from http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/chi-jena_wittjun26,0,3850675.story
Works Cited
Bello, Marisol. "Louisiana Beating Stirs Racial Anger." USA Today. 7 Sept 2007. Retrieved 5 Oct 2009 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-06-jena_N.htm
"Plea Bargain Wraps Up "Jena 6" Case." CBS News. 26 Jun 2009. Retrieved 5 Oct 2009 from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/26/national/main5116800.shtml
Witt, Howard. "Charge Reduced in 'Jena 6' Case.'" Chicago Tribune. 26 Jun 2007. Retrieved 5 Oct 2009 from http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/chi-jena_wittjun26,0,3850675.story
London Housing The research was undertaken to study the link between inequality and depravity, poverty and crime in the housing structures of London. The study found that there is wide spread economic disparity in London. This divide is evident in the living styles and the types of housing structures that people live in. The council or housing estates of the city are primarily the residences of the lower income families. This
" And had Bucke never read any of Whitman's earlier poetry (Leaves of Grass, for example) "we might think that words could not convey greater passion" than they did in Drum-Taps (p. 171). "But now we know better," he went on. The "splendid faith" of Whitman's earlier poems is "greatly dimmed" in Drum-Taps, he insists. Bucke writes that he was told by a person "who knew the poet well, and who
It was in this backdrop of economic instability that economic nationalism also reared its ugly head. International crooks and foreign multinational companies rushed in and used both legal and illegal methods to gain contracts for supplying all sorts of stuff like stock fish, frozen chicken and meat, cars, and custom-made wine. Outlandish contracts were even given for supplying water and firewood to military barracks and prisons. Foreign governments and