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Jena 6 Teen Jailed for Assault AGAIN!
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by phrolen | October 11, 2007 at 10:09 pm
1991 views | 4 Recommendations | 21 comments
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Mychal Bell, the teenager associated with the controversial civil rights figures the "Jena 6" has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for another assault and counts of criminal destruction of property. The teen has been heralded as a victim of the U.S. south's great bastion of racism and prejudice and recently had a conviction in the internationally reknowned "Jena 6" case overturned on the premise that he could not be tried as an adult. During what was thought to be a routine juvinile court hearing on Thursday District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. stunned onlookers by taking issue with another, previously unknown case, where Bell was involved in assulting a teen. Apparently oblivious to the fact that bail is only available before trial and sentencing, Marcus Jones, Bell's father, attempted to stoke racial tensions once again exclaiming "He's locked up again, no bail has been set or nothing, he's a young man who has been thrown in jail again and again, and he just has to take it." It is unclear whether more civil tensions will be fueled from the sentencing of this crime.
'Jena 6' Teen Mychal Bell Back in Jail
Oct 12 01:14 AM US/Eastern
JENA, La. (AP) - A teenager at the center of a civil rights controversy is back in jail after a judge sentenced him on charges that were pending before the attack that put him in the national spotlight, his attorney said Thursday.
Mychal Bell, who along with five other black teenagers had been accused of beating a white classmate, went to juvenile court Thursday expecting another routine hearing, said Carol Powell Lexing, one of Bell's attorneys.
Instead, after a six-hour hearing, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. sentenced him to 18 months on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said.
He had been hit with those charges before the Dec. 4 attack on classmate Justin Barker.
"He's locked up again," Marcus Jones said of his 17-year-old son. "No bail has been set or nothing. He's a young man who's been thrown in jail again and again, and he just has to take it."
After the attack on Barker, Bell was originally charged with attempted murder, but the charges were reduced and he was convicted of battery. An appeals court threw that conviction out, saying Bell should not have been tried as an adult on that charge.
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phrolen
Billings, Montana, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (21)
at 05:26 on October 12th, 2007
Yikes -- who knows what this is going to stir up...
at 05:38 on October 12th, 2007
Mychal Bell is a thug.He beat the crap out of a girl then was made a hero. it is the same thing some people will always use the race card to defend a thug. It's good money maker, just ask Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson the pimps of race baiting.
at 05:48 on October 12th, 2007
Update to this story:
CNN is reporting that the FBI said it was looking into an online posting by a
neo-Nazi white supremacist group that published the home addresses of
all six of the African-American teenagers, as well as the phone numbers
of some. The group said on its Web site it is calling on followers to
"let them know justice is coming."
What's that supposed to mean?
at 06:05 on October 12th, 2007
Well, that news has been around for awhile now.
What does it mean? The Neo Nazi types, like all hate groups, say things like that. Those who decided to make martyrs out of the kids who head-kicked another kid after he was down pretty much set them up as targets as well as pseudo martyrs.
at 06:13 on October 12th, 2007
Oh, so lynching nooses hung from a tree in which African students needed to go and ask permission to sit under isn't provocation as well as the fact that this young man went up to them and started the fight in the first place? These African students were standing up for themselves, nothing more.
at 06:21 on October 12th, 2007
Proof he started the fight?
OK, now you've defined your terms: multiple guys head-kicking a guy after he's down and knocked out is "standing up for themselves."
Remember this when some angry white guys, who feel angered by something racial, beat the crap out of some black kid. You've just given them the OK to do that with your standards: if you feel it's provocation, you can gang beat someone and it's "standing up for themselves."
Let's face it: if white kids had done that to a black kid, the "activists" who marched in Jena would have been demanding they face the highest possible charges; and not been allowed bail. Had charges been reduced and the offenders let out on bail, there would have been a massive protest.
Racism flows in both directions. And frankly, your promoting the head-kicking actions as you have, tells the story of why race relations are going to be set back.
Dr. Martin Luther King, I suspect, would be horrified by the principles you've just presented.
at 06:52 on October 12th, 2007
"My" standards? What are you suggesting, that I advocate violence? You are way out of line here and you are again jumping to wild conclusions. African people still experience racial violence across the country, not just in the in the south and not just from average citizens. Unless you have been hiding under a rock, municpal police departments are killing Black men with impunity. While you pretend that if we all just ignore it and become "American" all of this uglyness will go away, we have to deal with the reality of institutionalised racism on a daily basis.
Think Greensboro, NC circa 1979. Better yet, think of Michael Donald lynched in Mobile, AL in 1981. Or, James Byrd Jr. in 1998.
This childish, "Your people do it too" argument with Dr. King thrown in for good measure doesn't mean a thing. Ignoring America's racist history that we all know weighs in on these cases is not only revisionist, but insulting to all African people working to improve our condition in this country. And if you really think that Dr. King came around to work on behalf of White people, you really need to review and understand that he was an African activist defending African people from traditional White racist oppression that the FBI and Kennedy administration labelled "dangerous" as did all of the major papers during his lifetime. Post-assassination Dr. King is the fave dismissive element used to get African people standing up for themselves to shut up and get back where you belong. Find another excuse for White marginalisation of African students on an American school campus. Accusing me and other anti-Racism activists of reverse-racism because we refuse to allow White society to get away with pushing our mistreament to the side is played out.
at 06:30 on October 12th, 2007
there are people who want a race war so they keep harping about how racist Americans are. This is race baiting at it's worst. Some here spent weeks posting old lynching pics just to inflame racial tensions.these were American Students and to refer to them as Africans shows how some think here. And they acted like the thugs they are.
at 06:02 on October 12th, 2007
phrolen, good stuff. M. Bell is a repeat offender. What's been overlooked: one pastor in his home town said clearly that he was a problem for the town. But of course his words were dumped.
It's hard to make a hero out of a guy who repeatedly assaults others, and joins in with others in gang beating someone--especially kicking them in the head after the victim is down.
It's amazing how those actions were excused by all too many.
at 07:42 on October 12th, 2007
Angry Indian lets play this both ways. You have posted a post completely unrelated to the point of my post. The only intention of your two initial posts were to shift the focus of this article into the light of White vs Black, once again with you involved the debate shifts to racism. Almost every article you post is a shot at whites ans intends to bring individuals into a racist realm. I believe that attitudes exactly like your own, which have been exuded from the halls of power in black communitys are directly responsible for the sad state that we find ourselves in today. Racism is being kept alive by such points of view and the consequences are shameful. I did some digging and found these nice statistics that I would share with everyone. THESE NUMBERS ARE A DIRECT REFLECTION OF THE CULTURAL RADICALIZATION PROPAGATED BY RADICAL HATE GROUPS AND THEIR APPOLOGIST COMMUNITY LEADERS.
victims, more than 6.6 million violent crimes (murder, rape, assault
and robbery) are committed in the US each year, of which about 20 per
cent, or 1.3 million, are inter-racial crimes.
assaulted or raped by black Americans, compared with about
132,000 blacks who were murdered, robbed, assaulted or raped by whites,
according to the same survey.
crimes than whites even though the black population is only one-seventh
the size of the white population. When these figures are adjusted on a
per capita basis, they reveal an extraordinary disparity: blacks are
committing more than 50 times the number of violent racial crimes of
whites.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, most inter-racial murders involve
black assailants and white victims, with blacks murdering whites at 18
times the rate that whites murder blacks.
STOP THE RACISM AND HATEMONGERING. Most people have moved on, it's time for the radicals to do the same.
at 10:43 on October 12th, 2007
I find this really appalling coming from a member of the American military. So reporting that racism in this country is real is akin to promoting hatred toward Whites? Are you for real? And now you claim that I promote violence as well? Obviously you have a serious personal problem Phrolen with facing up to realities about how things got this way. You have yet to address the history of pro-Europocentric racism in America so it is you that is struggling to keep this issue focused not on solutions but on White social insecurities.
Are your stats supposed to eugenically "prove" that Africans in America are congenitally predisposed to anti-White violence? If you ignore American history and the waves of White racist terror manifested as the Tulsa Riots and Rosewood, Florida where dozens of Africans were raped and killed like it was free. Our leaders were killed, we were and in some cases still are denied housing, employment and justice for no other reason than our race. Generations of African people in this country have had to fight for everything we have, and you call me a race-baiter because I updated your post with a notice as reported by CNN that neo-Nazis are encouraging their supporters to harm these young men and their families.
As much as you would like this to be swept under the rug so you can continue to convince yourself that Africans in this country are not targets of institutionalised racism, addressing it stops the problem, not coddling your damaged sense of White victimisation that only exists in the minds of White people living in fear of a non-existent Black menace.
at 11:07 on October 12th, 2007
Look buddy, the statistics don't lie. You can live in the past and continue fostering the idea that there is some all encompassing "Man" trying to snuff out your life style. Meanwhile the rest of us have to figure out how to pick up the pieces from this racist response to racism that individuals with ideas such as your own have left in place of the awsome and awe-inspiring cultural progressions of the civil rights era. No one is denying our tattered past, most of us have made lives out of trying to capitalize on the spirit of the civil rights era, all the while community leaders and racist activists have instilled an irreperable sense of hatred and vulgarity throughout the communities in which they purport to support. Shame!!!
at 07:47 on October 12th, 2007
"Oh, so lynching nooses hung from a tree in which African students
needed to go and ask permission to sit under isn't provocation as well
as the fact that this young man went up to them and started the fight
in the first place? These African students were standing up for
themselves, nothing more."
YES I AM SAYING IT, THE CONTEXT OF ANGRY INDIAN'S POST ADVOCATES VIOLENCE!
at 10:18 on October 12th, 2007
That's not true and you know it. You have blown this entire thing way out of proportion by suggesting that I am promoting violence. What are you promoting, White apathy in the United States to historical institutionalised anti-African racism? When was the last time you had to ask permission on where to sit? And don't assume that I have never encountered this sort of bias.
at 10:18 on October 12th, 2007
That's not true and you know it. You have blown this entire thing way out of proportion by suggesting that I am promoting violence. What are you promoting, White apathy in the United States to historical institutionalised anti-African racism? When was the last time you had to ask permission on where to sit? And don't assume that I have never encountered this sort of bias.
at 07:56 on October 12th, 2007
I believe the title of this article to be misleading. When I read it, I thought some new incident had occurred, resulting in the jailing of Mychal Bell.
As far as the Jena 6, tens of thousands did not go to Jena, Louisiana because Mychal Bell or any of the other members of the Jena 6 were believed to be choirboys or pillars of the community.
The climate in Jena, where a dual system of justice exists, one for White citizens and one Black citizens, is what brought all things in Jena to a boil.
My station manager spoke with a great aunt of one of the Jena 6 shortly before the release of Mychal Bell. The great aunt said things have always been lopsided in Jena, with the White youth allowed to more or less run wild and when charged for a crime, are given the most lenient of charges and sentences, with the inverse being true for Black youth, with them receiving the most harsh charges and sentencing.
During CNN's coverage of the march and rally on September 20, the reporters, who arrived a week in advance, stated that many Black residents expressed their frustration with the two types of justice dispensed in Jena.
Like it or not, in many places in the U.S., not only in Jena, Louisiana, there is still a two tiered justice system.
at 08:08 on October 12th, 2007
No, no new incidents Karen, sorry for the confusion. Only a previous, unrelated incident. I appologize.
at 09:02 on October 12th, 2007
Thanks for the clarifier and quick response, Phrolen. Apology accepted, although, in terms of confusion, unnecessary. As I read the item, I understood the jailing was the result of a previous incident.
at 12:30 on October 12th, 2007
Mychal Bell is not a civil rights activist fighting against injustice and inequality. His previous convictions for violence and property crimes show him to be a thug as most violent criminals are. Worst of all, he was already on probation while committing some of these crimes and the current one: Let us hope there are no more future victims of this violent criminal ans let us hope he gets a long jail term to protect the people of Jena. This shows how dead the civil rights movement is with the current leadership. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters pointed out that Bell was placed on probation until his 18th birthday -- Jan. 18, 2008 -- after an incident of battery on Dec. 25, 2005. After being placed on probation, he was adjudicated of three other crimes, the two in September and another charge of criminal damage to property that occurred on July 25, 2006. So this thug has been beating people up for some time now.
at 12:33 on October 12th, 2007
Mychal Bell is not a civil rights activist fighting against injustice and inequality. His previous convictions for violence and property crimes show him to be a thug as most violent criminals are. Worst of all, he was already on probation while committing some of these crimes and the current one: Let us hope there are no more future victims of this violent criminal and let us hope he gets a long jail term to protect the people of Jena. This shows how dead the civil rights movement is with the current leadership. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters pointed out that Bell was placed on probation until his 18th birthday -- Jan. 18, 2008 -- after an incident of battery on Dec. 25, 2005. After being placed on probation, he was adjudicated of three other crimes, the two in September and another charge of criminal damage to property that occurred on July 25, 2006. So this thug has been beating people up for some time now. I heard he beat the crap out of a woman family member.
at 13:15 on October 12th, 2007
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