As I disagree with Duane’s initial suggestion; that if Blacks knew there were two nooses instead of three, or that Mychal Bell had a history of deliquency, and so forth, they would not have been so moved to protest.

That is the part you wanted to hear. Now for what I actually said–

“…however much of the protest was based on a very narrow view of events. Take out the nooses, take out the fact that it was only an all-White jury because Blacks refused to show up, add the fact that those White boys were disciplined for more than 3 days and I can assure you that you would have seen minimum response to this issue.”

Blacks would have still responded the way they did regardless of the amount of nooses or if Bell had a past history of crime (you can look at the acquittal rates in mostly Black areas to prove the latter). What prompted the response was the other racial ingredients that I mentioned (I should also add the other drama flashpoint was the fact that this took place in a southern town who voted strongly for David Duke). Take ALL of those other factors away and Bell would have been just another poor Black soul lost in the system. Racism sold this story.

Check out the Innocence Project for cases of folks who were also given overreaching sentences with questionable evidence. Unfortunately in many cases they did not have the backdrop of an old southern town, nooses, or sheetless klan members to push their story.

I disagree. As I disagree with Duane’s initial suggestion; that if Blacks knew there were two nooses instead of three, or that Mychal Bell had a history of deliquency, and so forth, they would not have been so moved to protest. Both the AP article cited by Duane and Jason Whitlock’s op-ed piece are classic examples of disinformation — information provided with the effect of minimizing or distracting attention away from a central issue.

Hint: The beating isn’t “the story” here anymore. The media’s distorto-coverage is fast becoming “the story”.

Question:

If six teenage men beat your son unconscious would you not expect the DA to presue the maxium punishment against them?

I don’t think we realize just how much money is at stake and the pressure to produce a good story that has the legs to carry itself.

Wizz (unrelated),

I’m still trying to get the the bottom of the comment feature for this site. Another thing that I have discovered is that if you do a long comment there is something that causes a timeout–resulting in the error you told me (I get it too!). I’m working on it.

The media no longer reports in the traditional sense. They are actively trying to shape opinion and many of them view this as a feature rather than a bug. My local paper, the Palm Beach Post, is a gross offender in this regard.

Selectively told fact can be a bigger lie than something cut from whole cloth.

It goes back to the j-schools and who they’re attracting and graduating. Too many people get into that business because they want to be advocates and change the world rather than chroniclers and wordsmiths.

The public has not been oblivious to this (not always so) subtle shift in media practice with trust in the media steadily declining.

JC/Riverside

You are right, it doesn’t. However there is something deeply wrong when key information is being purposely left out of the discussion by those who could tell you what went down in their sleep. Even Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune (who is being credited for bringing this case into ‘the open’) did not include any of this information in is ‘detailed’ reporting of the case. IMO, the actions of Black folks who went down there are justified, however much of the protest was based on a very narrow view of events. Take out the nooses, take out the fact that it was only an all-White jury because Blacks refused to show up, add the fact that those White boys were disciplined for more than 3 days and I can assure you that you would have seen minimum response to this issue. There are other folks besides Bell in our criminal justice system who have also been given excessive sentences with no “fight the power” outrage to help them. What helped “the six” was all the other ingredients that smelled of racism.

I don’t hear many people proclaiming the 6 teens’ innocence.

But I do hear many people suggesting that ALL charges should be dropped–including Mychal Bell’s sentence.

Whether or not people agree the beating of Justin Barker was the culmination of an escalating series of racial antagonisms doesn’t (or shouldn’t) impact the fact of the district attorney’s over-prosecution.

I don’t hear many people proclaiming the 6 teens’ innocence, but that the charges that were filed and potential sentences were excessive in consideration of the crime itself and its context. IMO, the actions of the LaSalle Parish D.A. in his prosecution, and those of the various school officials involved with adjudicating the multiple events leading up to the Barker battery pretty much exemplify racism for the systemic double-standards afforded Blacks and Whites in Jena.