That’s bull, Bull 
Kicking someone when they’re down is bad, but not shooting bad. Assault or assault and battery charges would be warranted, there was no deadly weapon involved and no one would be able to convince me that tennis shoe constitute a deadly weapon.
I think the original three white persons that hung the nooses should have gotten worse punishment. If they had a record of doing similar things, I could see charging them with a hate crime.
Because they took the shotgun and did not give it back.
The cops took the word of eyewitnesses, because the two groups’ stories were in conflict with each other.
How else did the guy acquire the gun? Do you think he just took the gun without provocation? Just to be mean?
It seems like you’re intent on believing everything turned out fair and square. But you still haven’t answered my question. Do you think these guys should be charged with attempted murder, given the undisputed facts of the case?
I’m waiting for something substantial from you, but all I seem to get is knee-jerking sarcasm.
To answer this specific question, absolutely, yes. Ignoring other charges that should be pressed against others involved, a group kicking someone whilst ont he ground is serious battery if not attempted murder. They should be charged.
There are plenty of scenarios in which he could have gotten the gun. For instance, (not saying this happened, but it’s a for instance) black kid attacks white kid, white kid goes to truck to get his shotgun for protection, black kid wrestles gun from white kid and takes it home with him.
Again, I’m not saying this is the sequence of events, but it’s definitely plausible and I’d bet it’s darn near the story the white kids told the cops, eye witnesses may have backed them up, which is why the black kid was charged.
I don’t think any one party is righter than the other. I don’t know who did what. I do think the quoted piece is heavily biased towards the black kids though to show the injustice they were subjected to at the hands of whitey. That’s what I originally said, in a smartass way though.
As far as attempted murder, I would say no unless the assaulted kid sustained permanent injuries from the attack. Sometimes a fight is just a fight and a punch is just a punch. Should they be charged with battery? Hell yes.
I, personally, don’t know how the shotgun thing went down. I suspect the only folks who do know are the ones that were there. However, you have one white guy getting in a confrontation with a group of black kids,… by the account you gave harsh words were exchanged. If I was outnumbered and felt threatened, I might have retreated to get my weapon too. Depending on the area laws I might even be legally justified in doing that, depending on how it was done. Bailey, instead of retreating or de-escalating the situation… got into a physical altercation with the ARMED white guy and took the shotgun from him. A couple of things come to mind… white dude must have really not wanted to kill anybody that day cause I guarantee you if I had my shotgun and somebody aggressively tried to take it away from me for reasons unknown, they’d be dead. To Bailey’s credit… upon gaining control of the weapon he didn’t use it… however he had numbers on his side, didn’t he? He did take somebody else’s property from them in any case. Racism is undoubtedly a problem with the whole situation and the noose prank should have been taken alot more seriously… but I think justice has been carried out in charging those 6 boys, they appear guilty.
As far as attempted murder, I would say no unless the assaulted kid sustained permanent injuries from the attack. Sometimes a fight is just a fight and a punch is just a punch. Sometimes people attack others to hurt them real bad with no intention of killing them. Doesn’t make it a nice thing to do but I think trying to say that every physical altercation in which someone is out numbered and beaten down = attempted murder is a really lame stance to take and dillutes the gravity of a real attempted murder.
Should they be charged with battery? Hell yes. Send them to jail for assault, but don’t trump up a murder charge. When I was in high school I thought all the kids that were starting fights should have been taken to jail and charged with assault. It’s a very stressful environment when kids are getting taken to the woodshde every day during/after school.
A concussion can be a pretty serious thing. Think about it for a second, this kid was beaten until he lost consciousness and then they continued to kick him. I wasn’t there so I can’t claim to know what their intentions were. Likely they probably didn’t intend to kill him. They shouldn’t go to jail for 22 years, but they would serve more than one year if it was up to me.
I’m a little curious as to when the standard for attempted murder became whether or not the victim received any permanent injuries. You’re right though, sometimes a fight is just a fight and a punch is just a punch. I’m hard pressed to think of 5 guys ganging up against 1 as being just a simple fight.
I’m a little leery about a tennis shoe being considered a deadly weapon. I think in Texas blows to the head, neck, throat, and spine are all considered deadly force whether the individual is armed or not. Like so many things I suppose it varies from state to state.
Marc
Yeah. It’s probably not a simple fight but I think there is somewhere between simple fight and attempted murder though that is more appropriate.
As far as a shoe being a deadly weapon that’s laughable and I think it would be thrown out of any court.
That sounds reasonable. Of course they weren’t convicted of attempted murder they were convicted of aggravated battery. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to serve a few years but I admit that I take a very dim view of people ganging up to beat another person.
On the surface it sounds rather silly but I’d have to actually see the shoes in question before I rendered a final decision.
Marc
It sounds like unfortunately some good ole boy racism is gonna slide and we’re going to get some new graduates from Thug U. This is a very sad story, and to think that the school admin could’ve squashed it at the beginning.
I know people on both sides of the aisle will criticize me for saying this: but violence, or the threat of violence, is the only way blacks can effectively communicate to whites. I’m convinced of it. If you want a historical lesson, read a *An American Slave * by Frederick Douglas. If you need a contemporary example, just flip through photographs of the Civil Right’s Movement. If you need a recent example, on May 3rd of this year, Detroit students were pepper-sprayed by police when they were peacefully protesting the closing of Detroit middle nd high schools. Schools of all things.
And it’s funny, blacks don’t even see it. Affirmative action is gone (or going) in many States, integration programs in elementary and high schools have been outlawed, social programs are drying up, our votes diluted and gerrymandered into non-existence, and a disproportionate amount of our people are serving multi-year jail sentences for having an ounce of Cannabis or less than a gram of crack. And even once they paid their debt to society, they are ineligible for federal aid for college, barred from certain professions and jobs, and, in some States, have their voting rights stripped away. Yet there is no outrage; quiet, simmering resentment maybe but no resounding cries to make America a better place. Why? I’ll never understand it.
We as a people need to shake off this Martin Luther King bullshit way of thinking. Whites have never wanted to live side-by-side blacks. Ever. We also need to stop being ashamed of calling out racism when we see it (e.g. Kanye West and Hurricane Katrina). Far as I am concerned, the NAACP doesn’t do nearly enough in exposing stories like the one you posted.
Oh, it communicates to me, alright. (“Both sides of the aisle?” 
What side of the aisle am I on? More importantly, what side of the aisle will I fall on if I’m being pushed, even if it’s from both sides?)
Honesty I am white and live side by side with black people.
I’m not so sure your examples really prove your point. The Civil Rights movement had a lot of momentum by the time the riots of the 60s started. In fact, I think the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and the wave or riots that spread across the nation began in 1965, so it would appear to me that plenty of communication can take place without blacks becoming violent or threatening to do violence against whites.
The neighbors to either side of me and the two across the street from me are black. One of them annoys the hell out of me because she has a tendency to lay on her car horn when she wants the kids to come out of the house. I like the rest of them because they keep their lawns mowed, their house in good order, and they don’t make a whole lot of noise. That’s pretty much all I like to see in a neighbor.
Marc
I saw a story on this on CNN ages ago, so it has gotten national exposure.
I agree with pool. Twenty-two years is too much, but they should go to jail for longer than a year. The kids involved in the noose hanging incident should have been charged with a crime too.
I really don’t know what to say to that. I’d be interested in hearing how you believe your plan woud work out. How will violence and the threat of violence end with blacks and whites living in harmony? Is that even your goal, or did you have something else in mind?
If I were Al Sharpton, I’d scrap the last bit of credibility he has with the community and launch a peaceful march to the steps of Congress and down Pennsylvania Avenue. I would demand of the U.S Executive and Legislative:
Relax drug laws that target the low-end users;an executive order releasing, without restitution, any individual convicted of non-violent, drug-related crimes; the U.S government to take a stiffer stance on voter intimidation and fraud.
Reaffirm a national commitment to fighting poverty and homelessness in the United States; raise standards for local and State law enforcement: force State Police academies to require recruits to be college-educated and/or provide basic, college-level coursework.
Reaffirm a national commitment to providing a healthy, civil environment in schools and work places across the United States. There is no justification why any competent school official could possibly determine hanging nooses on a tree is an “innocent prank”.
If we’ve learned anything in last fifty years, large groups of brown people peacefully marching will be baited and beaten by the police without exception or hesitation. It is in these situations that I believe protesters should be able to defend themselves by any means necessary. I know it’s a radical concept, but if I were Sharpton, I’d make sure that peaceful marches don’t end up with the participants bruised, battered, and twitching on the other end of an officer’s bloodied truncheon. If memory serves correct, the District of Columbia has very few laws abridging the second amendment; indeed, if this is true, I would encourage marchers exercise their second amendment rights to protect themselves from law enforcement by carrying concealed weapons.
Exactly. What a goddamn shame.
Oh, and not appropos anything that you said, mswas–b/c I’m just trying to consolidate my posts–but I understand completely where **Honesty ** is coming from with the claim that that only way for Blacks to communicate effectively with Whites is through violence or threats of violence.
There’s not a small number of Blacks, I think (and I am certainly one of them), who believe that many Whites (certainly not all–I’ve been around the block enough times to know that–but I can’t believe that it’s a minority, either) who, whether out of unbridled hatred, lack of historical perspective, or an inability to empathize, just don’t take Blacks (and, especially any truly legitimate complaints that Blacks might make about continuing discrimination, police brutality, and the like) seriously.
I disagree, in some nuanced respects, with **Honesty’s ** juxtapositioning of “Martin Luther King” and “bullshit way of thinking,” and I’d be *extremely * reluctant to select Al Sharpton as our leader (hell, I don’t even believe that Blacks need a “leader”), but, yeah, I get what he’s (she’s(?), though I get the sense that **Honesty ** is male) saying.
Sorry, that should read “that *the * only way for Blacks to communicate…”.