Not entirely surprised.

My alma mater posted Mychal Bell's address in jail for those who wish to write letters of support.

Mychal Bell
Inmate, A-Dorm
LaSalle Correctional Center
15976 Highway 165
Olla, LA 71465-4801

I have not read this whole thread but I wanted to tell you guys that I went to Jena yesterday. I didn't know what to expect, but it was a wonderful feeling just being there!! I didn't go to the activities held in Alexandria, because we came back home



BTW My granddad said he saw me on CNN!:D

Uh.. the U.S. Attorney (who is probably better at law-stuff than you) disagrees.

-- don't you hate when facts get in the way?

Yeah, whoever did that is a racist jackass. Fortunately, in this country, we don't yet punish people for thoughtcrime. Just because an act was motivated by hate doesn't make it a hate-crime.

jackassery reconizes jackassery......I guess that would look familiar to you huh?


Think about that last statement....exactly how much sense does that make....?

But then you may be right.....

"Just because an act was motivated by hate doesn't make it a hate-crime."

I guess the Logan 6 didn't 'hate' that girl....huh....but they they sure left a weeks worth of dislike all over her.

And I guess those guys didn't 'hate' your grandfather either....just hated getting screwed out of a deal?

Hell...I would 'hate' being on the wrong end of a money deal gone bad....

I'm going to have to put some of these in my sig. :cool:

As ridiculously foolish as that statement sounds, Law-boy has a point. A crime can't be a hate crime because it's motivated by hate alone. It also has to be motivated by a prejudice and/or intolerance of some sort--without that second part, it doesn't legally fit the category.

I'm really disappointed about the bail being denied, but I'm sending him a letter of encouragement tomorrow. While I definitely believe those boys were never innocent and all deserved punishment, Mychal has been through enough. If he hasn't learned a lesson after all this (and I believe he has), no amount of jail time is going to teach him. It's time to let this boy get on with his life.

He may have a point but it still "subject to interpretation"...let's see who they get to 'interpret' the hate laws in the Logan 6 case as well.

BTW...I did find an FAQ

http://www.acjnet.org/youthfaq/define.html

and another link

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offen...ime/index.html

and they are subject to law boy's interpretation as well...

I am also sure he can provide us with some other illuminating links that can clearly (or murkily) define what get's defined as a hate crime.

be careful with that...the FBI is probably creating a database for all of us rabble rousers.

Here's a link to the U.S. Code (Title 18, section 245) covering this sort of crime.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ht...5----000-.html

In short, it can only be a hate crime if the following rights are interfered with:

I think your understanding of what qualifies as a "hate crime" is incorrectly expansive. There might be a case under "E" since schools receive federal financial assistance if you want to argue the act was interfering with the black students' rights to attend the school. However, the counter argument to that is that the activity interfered with was hanging out under a tree... an activity it'd be hard to argue receives federal assistance.

Further, if you were able to make that case, you could probably make a case that the Jena 6 committed a hate crime as well.

I don't consider myself to be an expert at all regarding civil rights legislation -- especially the criminal type. I'm pretty up to speed on 42 U.S.C. 1983 though. I understand based on about 5 minutes of research that this is the big daddy of the federal hate crimes statutes. It seems that the U.S. Attorney has come to essentially the same conclusion I have, so I can't be too far off.

I have not seen anything that makes what the six against one did to make it right.
Just because a lot of people swarmed down on the small town does not make it right either.

Imus can call female black basket ball players Ho's and a huge cry comes down and he is fired, but the situation with the Duke Team who were villified and prosicuted/persecuted when there was no cause for it!

It probably be better if Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton kept their noses out of everything. They seem to cause more problems than not.

Stirring to almost a riotist situation.

A riot? A RIOT?

ok.....tell me this...what problems were there that came in Jena? Was the town razed to the ground? Were people beatne and killed? Was there mass looting and destruction?

Inciting a riot?

I guess the news report of 2 teens who drove by folks still congregating from the day's activities with NOOSES hung on the back of their truck carrying an unloaded shot gun and brass knucks with claims of family ties to the KKK attemtping to stir up trouble, just waved hi as it waltzed by under your radar huh Tom?

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/09/21...ref=edition_us

That's enough to spark a riot but guess what, we have more than enough sense than that and for you to assume that rioting is what we went down there to do makes you no better in my eyes than Kevin and any other person small minded to think that just because you protest an injustice you are there to start trouble.

Hang on...I have something to show you all...

Wrong. Don't put words into my mouth.

I simply deny that there's much injustice here. You have a serious crime which was apparently committed -- and for that crime there are serious consequences.

That such serious consequences are available to the prosecutor when you're talking about aggravated assault in the second degree is a matter you can feel free to ask the Louisiana legislature take up.

What is that prosecutor going to say when one of the Jena 6 is actually successful in killing someone somewhere down the road? How is he going to explain to the family of the deceased his choice to give that violent criminal a "second chance" when that "second chance" results in a killing or serious injury?

These defendants are not heroes. Assuming they're guilty of this crime, they're violent felons. If you want to protest "injustice" terrific. Go find a real injustice.

I am very proud of a friend of mine who today just returned from Jena LA.

At her rquest, out of 100 pix that she has taken I am fortuante that she has let me use 10 of them to upload and present to you all.

For those of you too disconnected to see what is going look at the pictures.

For those that feel they are unnaffected, read the news, read in between the lines and when you think you get it...be sure and ask someone because I guarantee you that you don't

If you think this is a bunch of rabble rousing, then you need to come to the understanding that this and future events will tell you that we still have a lot of the past that needs to change.

At this point I am done with this.....I may post a few comments but from what some of you have shown me, regardless of how many degrees you hold and regardless of how you are living, you still have a lot of things to learn in this life about how things are going in this present day and how one event can have an effect on many other regardless of where they are....

One last thing......for those that don't know....I also like to write and perform spoken word....I would like to leave an excert from one of my peices I wrote back in 2004 called 'Born a suspect'



Yeah u see me, traveling with my homies, in 2’s and threes
You look at my dark face, quicken your pace…grab your phone dial the 9 and 1 on the double, ready to hit that last 1 cuz you’ve assumed my Black ass is about to start some trouble.

I’m born a suspect cuz already I stand accused of crimes I have yet to commit. Murder, Rape, possession with intent, cop killer…the list continues…Before the umbilical cord was severed you already have me judged, sentenced and convicted, that’s the truth your society won’t admit.


I’m born a suspect cuz you have determined the quality of education to hand me, the limits and levels of jobs to contain me, and right when the placenta displaced itself from my mother’s uterus you already have me moved into ghetto housing, dime baggin, crack smoking, gang banging , and baby daddy-ing

Before I was set in my mama’s arms, you had search warrants written printed ink drying, your trying to find the arms I would eventually own illegally, your people so called innocents harmed and supposedly by my hand, dying.

Before my mama got a chance to name me, you took time to number me, you took time to frame me, had me stereotyped, fingerprinted, libeled and defamed me. Because you thought I was a wild animal you had my cage set and ready in the state pen in attempts to train me

Born a suspect before leaving out of the hospital, you already had the timeframe set for my falling over your obstacles. You have set the wheels in motion for my walking into incarceration so I can wait 3x as long than my paler compatriots for emancipation and even if I was ever proven innocent I should never hope to see any reparations.

Enough is Enough...let me live peacefully…stop the ½ told, deleted, blacked out, one sided bulls*it, stop the terror, keep your media in check…all I want is the truth to be known… all I want is respect


enjoy the pictures, all


http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/c...20from%20jena/

I can't put words into your mouth, your foot is blocking the way....


How's that toejam thing working out for you by the way?

duh...that's what we have been try to say all along....now let's ask that same question on THE OTHER SIDE...see you already ASSUMED that one of those 6 will be committing another crime down the road.....you know what they say about assuming...What if one of those so called victims(also an instigator to the noose hanging, the store fight, the party fight...etc and so on) decided that somewhere in the future he wanted to rob a bank or...GASP....KILL ANOTHER WHITE PERSON...what do we do then Kevin....what do we do....

Right now....deal with the facts on hand...the boy did not die...the boy went to a Ring Dance later....he and his associates decided to retaliate....ALL PARTIES ARE GUILTY....let me repeat that so the slow witted and menatlly challenged can catch on for the 3rd and final time that I say this...


ALL PARTIES ON BOTH SIDES ARE GUILTY


ALL...... PARTIES.... ON..... BOTH..... SIDES..... ARE..... GUILTY.


got it?


Next part

PUNISH ALL PARTIES EQUALLY AND FAIRLY.


There are no heroes


There is no one here whose hands are clean.


If you cannot understand that then you have missed the point entirely.

First off, it's debatable whether or not hanging a noose out the back of your truck is even a crime.

Second, the recidivism rate for violent felons is pretty high. Check the stats in any state. They'll bear out the factual accuracy of that statement. The recidivism rate in every state I've ever seen is far above 50% -- usually over 60%. That's a much better than 1:6 chance. The likelihood that one of those 6 commits another felony is about as close to a statistical certainty as you can get.

I'll repeat also.

1) He was damned lucky not to be dead after being kicked in the head multiple times while unconscious. He was, however, blind for three weeks due to the swelling in one eye. Also, he still has very painful headaches.

2) He did attend the ring ceremony (it's not a dance as far as I have read), however, he had to leave early due to the pain.

What is he guilty of? Saying something offensive? Sorry, that does not merit the sort of violent attack that occurred.

Of something, however, only parties on one side of the conflict blindsided a kid and then kicked him in the head while unconscious. The other assault was the result of one of these "Jena 6" who was trespassing at a private party where he was clearly not welcome.

But the crimes aren't the same.

That much I can agree with. As I understand it, the individual accused of using excessive force to remove the trespassing Mr. Bailey from the private party stands accused of some sort of misdemeanor assault and battery. The fact patterns are very different, so the crimes charged are also going to be different.

and your prom date had gas....solvable by pepto or better yet a tablespoon of baking soda....good bye Kevin.