Read "FBI Reviewing Anti-Jena 6 Web Page" from the Associated Press, 9/23/07.
Watch the first 17 1/2 minutes of Democracy Now.
After reading and viewing the above, answer the following in a post to this blog. If the courts do in fact decide to drop all charges against the Jena 6, what do you think will be the response in Jena and Jena High School? How do you feel the 6 boys' lives might be impacted by the community in which they live?
Watch the first 20 minutes of the above interview with Salman Rushdie by Bill Moyers for his 2002 series On Faith and Reason. If you have time, you can watch the above interview in its entirety.
Read "About the Book" for Wednesday. Be able to identify:
Brown v Board of Education
Governor Faubus
NAACP
Chief Justice Warren
13th Amendment
14th Amendment
Plessy v Ferguson
Justice John Marshall Harlan
Jim Crow Laws
Justice Thurgood Marshall
Watch the first 17 1/2 minutes of Democracy Now.
After reading and viewing the above, answer the following in a post to this blog. If the courts do in fact decide to drop all charges against the Jena 6, what do you think will be the response in Jena and Jena High School? How do you feel the 6 boys' lives might be impacted by the community in which they live?
Watch the first 20 minutes of the above interview with Salman Rushdie by Bill Moyers for his 2002 series On Faith and Reason. If you have time, you can watch the above interview in its entirety.
Read "About the Book" for Wednesday. Be able to identify:
Brown v Board of Education
Governor Faubus
NAACP
Chief Justice Warren
13th Amendment
14th Amendment
Plessy v Ferguson
Justice John Marshall Harlan
Jim Crow Laws
Justice Thurgood Marshall
posted by Jan Yourist at 8:21 AM
33 Comments:
First Question: I honestly don't know. I'd be curious to find out.
I definitely think that charges will be dropped eventually just because it's pure racism. However once that happens Jena will either have this wonderful revelation and will change their ways (sarcasm) or lash out in racism towards the black populace in Jena. Hopefully Governor Blanco will intervene and enforce the area with police. The lives of the six boys will probably never be the same and if they really wanted to shine they would move out of Jena. It is apparent that Jena is biased and racist and the presence of the six will only create bad feelings and hate.
I think that it will actually be dangerous for the Jena six to return to school, because there is almost as much hate directed towards them as support. I agree with Benny, I think that the Jena Six should move out of Jena, to somewhere where they won't just be known as one of the Jena six, and can do what they want to with their lives.
Charges will be dropped because we out number the Reed Walters followers at least 3-1, which means that so many people will be criticizing Walters, that he'll have to drop the charges. They'll all be shund from Jena society, unless any of them become a successful football player, since this is Louisiana, where football is a bigger issue than race. Same thing goes for the high school, because anybody who is a star on a southern city's high school football team is one of the big men on campus.
Once again, "I wish these southern white males, would take the side of someone other than southern white males.
i really hope the white kids don't hold big grudges, even though i know they will. THIS IS THE REAL WORLD. but i know the charges will be dropped eventually
I think that no matter what the court decides about this case, the six boys' lives will never be the same. No one will forget the boys' pasts and will still discriminate against them. Also, the town will be so outraged that the charges were dropped and they will riot and possibly hurt the boys.
The boys will be greatly affected by the Jena 6 issue because even if the government drops all charges, everyday people are still going to hold the same grudges. It's not as though charges are dropped and *bang*, everybody loves them. With any luck, eventually people will let go of the past and forget about that, but with the current situation I think it's best for the boys to leave Jena for a bit, and go somewhere where they aren't recognized.
Amy F
I agree that it is extremely dangerous for the Jena Six to stay in school. Many Jena residents would still be too racist and violent toward them.
However, they do have a future ahead of them. Because of their good football credit, they shouldn't have too much difficulty finding a college. The issue of the whole criminal record does pose a problem, but I think that if the charges are dropped, they should find a good college and leave Jena before it's too late.
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I think that the charges will be dropted and then the people of jena will be more carfle and they wont want this to happen again.
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I think the Jena 6 will be in serious danger even if the charges are dropped. The white kids in their school would definitely continue with the racist behavior like the nooses. And the adults might even try to kill them or their families. My solution would be for them to move out of Jena. Honestly, I don't know why they stayed in such a racist town.
I think that the charges will definitely be eventually dropped. I think it is up to Reed Walters for either him to drop them or it go up to a higher court. I think the six boys men will carry this with them their whole life and there will be constant death threats. It is apparent we need cultural diversity even to the lowest levels of government which is what Jena is missing.
If the charges are dropped against the Jena Six, I think their lives in Jena might be very hard. Most of their white neighbors will be furious, and possibly try to hurt them. As much as I hate to say it, the six young men would probably be safer leaving Jena. Even if they were guarded day and night, the people who wanted to hurt the six will still try to. And besides, you cannot live being guarded forever. If they were to move somewhere else, the hate might be similar, but probably not as acute as it would be if they stayed in Jena.
Grace B
If the charges are dropped, and the Jena 6 released, it will not mean that everything will be fixed and that the racism in Jena will disappear. The six students will face dangers from their neighbors and it will no longer be safe for them to step outside or go to school. It is clear Jena is a racist town and that it will take a lot for the people there to realize it and try to fix it. Until that day, I think the accused six would be better off leaving Jena and attending a different school.
Alex C.
Although it is obviously a good thing to drop charges, I think that the whole experience will still have a negative impact on their lives. Just because charges are dropped doesn't mean that the community will accept that they are innocent and that may make life in Jena very difficult. At school they will be harrassed by white students and many people will try to make their lives more difficult. These boys will have so much hate coming at them and it really isn't their fault at all. I think that the best solution is to have the Jena 6 move out of Jena because there are plenty of places where they will be regarded as survivors rather than kids who escaped their rightful punishments.
Well, it is obvious that there lives in Jena will be almost completely destroyed. BUT, I do believe that they would be excepted in many other cities.
Ironic that yestarday was the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine. This was when state troopers were defending the nine students trying to get into the segregated high school. I certainly hope that Measures like these will not be nessesary, but if push comes to shove, this may be nessesary.
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I think that if the courts do decide to drop all the charges against the Jena 6 the response in jena will be very ineresting. I think that all of the non-racist people will be very happy for them and i think that the families of the 6 will be happy that their sons will not have to spend the however many years of the lives in jail. I think that the racist white people and the students that got beaten will hate the fact that the 6 got out of jail and out of the charges. I think that the 6's lives will be impacted greatly because all of the racist people in jena and in the school will hate the 6 because they thought that they should be in jail. I also think that they will learn a lesson about life in a racist area and that they have to be carefull
In responce to the question, I think that the Jena Six's lives will never be the same. I think that it is dangerous for them to go back to Jena if they get out of jail. Like Josh said, they have as much hate directed towards them as support. They should move out of Jena as soon as they get out of jail. It is terrible that those six kids had to go through all of that! They should be able to come out of jail and have people there with warm and loving hearts, not the other way around! I hope they get out of jail and that their lives get better! I am anxious to find out what is going to happen.
Aasha H.
Mrs. Y
Periods: 6-7
9/25/07
If the charges are dropped, i thing it will be quite dangerous for the Jena 6 to return to school. If the previous acts of racism byt he white student in the school are anything to go by, there will probably be a lot of risk that they will be hurt or even killed if they return to the school. The white students have already proven with the gun incident that they are not afraid to kill. I think it would be best for the Jena 6 to attend a different school, purely for their safety.
Mara Weisbach
When the Jena six return to school, I think that they will be in more danger then before. The kids at that school, have obviously been proved of being racist, and i highly doubt that they are going to have a sudden change of heart just because of this incedent. I think that possibly, when they first get back to school, the people will be toned down, and there won't be too much of anything, but eventually, i feel as if pressure will build up and up until it reaches bursting point, and everything will just come loose.
I was watching the History Channel one time, and it was about the KKK, and David Duke thought he wasn't racist back then, when he was the "Grand Dragon" and him saying he's not racist, is like when the President of Iran denied all the things he said on Monday.
Once again, "I'd like to see White Southern Males side with someone on an issue of race with someone other than white southern males."
I think that even if the courts decide to drop all the charges, the Jena 6 will probably never be the same as they were before. They will probably still have memories of being in jail and being over-charged. Most of the Jena people I think will be unhappy that the six boys were let out, and maybe become more violent towards the African American people, and especially the Jena 6. This does not end the problems and it is not a win-win situation, but at least the Jena 6 won't be in jail.
I hope that the charges will be dropped, but I feel like they won't, because if the people majorly involved in this case like Reed Walters drop the charges, it would be like admitting they were wrong, and they won't ever do that.
If the Jena 6 did come back to school, they would get a lot of respect from their fellow black students, but the white students in their school, and the white people in thier community, would not be as receptive to them. The boys might even be in danger because of all the "hate dust" kicked up by these recent events.
To be completely honest, if they make the decision to stay in Jena, the future looks bleak for the six boys no matter what the outcome of the trial. Judging by the general response of the town, if the boys get off free, they'll be stepping out of the frying pan and into the fire - the fire that started this entire mess in the first place.
On the converse side of this, it'll be an even stronger statement if the charges are dropped and the boys continue to attend their school. The safety of the six is important, but ending this with a strong statement is as well.
I'm interested to see how this plays out.
I don't know if the charges will ever be dropped, because there are just too many racist people around. This is another crazy story about the stupidness of white supremacists.
Danny I.
Even if the charges are dropped teh Jena Six will never be the same. They will still have memories of being in jail, and being mistreated. Most of teh people in Jena will be unhappy about the Jena Six's charges being dropped, they also may try to hurt the Jena Six. So this is basically a lose-lose situation ad the Jena Six will never be the same.
I hope that the charges will be dropped on the six boys, but I think that it is unlikely. The people who are in charge of the court aren't just going to go against what they said earlier. If the charges are, for some reason, dropped, and the Jena Six return to their school and community, many will try to get them back into trouble and possibly back into jail. The Jena Six will never get back the life that they once had, and will either be recognized for the feats that they encountered, or discriminated against horribly.
Shannon V
If charges against the Jena-6 are dropped now, many of the civilians and activists that have been involved would be happy or content. Some, though, vehemently oppose the release of the Jena-6, including the KKK and the victims and victims' families. A majority, however, would support the release.
For the second question, the Jena-6 will be the center of media attention for a while if they are released. Eventually, though,national media will settle down and Jena will quiet down again. The 6 boys' lives will never be as normal as they could be, though, because they will have been branded as players in the civil rights movement. In Jena, especially, the Jena-6 will always be reminded of the events that happened in their high school years. Jena is mostly white, so Bailey, Bell, and everyone else in the Jena-6 will not be physically safe. The white community could retaliate for the Jena-6' s release, and not only against the Jena-6, but against the black community as a whole.
Just curious, but why have so many comments been banned?
I just saw the Salman Rushdie video, and I thought his views were really interesting. I especially like his attitude. ("There is not a chance in hell of the book being withdrawn. We have not fought a battle for freedom of speech to give in at the last moment.")
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