Not Over Yet

I see a juvenile judge has "effectively deni[ed]...bail" in the case of Jena 6 defendant Mychal Bell. Since the case is now in juvenile court, it will become more difficult to detemine exactly what's going on, given that proceedings are closed.

Sad to say, the cynical part of me wonders if there might be more than just a bit of payback in the judge's decision, i.e., "oh yeah? well, look what we can do to you in juvee, punk."

Let's not kid ourselves--while the case certainly belonged under their jurisdiction, I can assure you that the juvenile justice system here (and probably most everywhere else these days) is no picnic.

Still, those who went to Jena yesterday made a significant, and historic statement, one to which the rest of us should pay heed--racism continues to be a BIG problem in this country, not confined merely to the actions of a couple of punk dipshits, but one that's deep-set in our communities, schools...systems of justice (like among those holding offices such as Parish Attorney), and so on. WAY too often, the issue of racism, and the problems resulting from racism, are dismissed or denied by too many who think of them as being "in the past."

No, they're not. For instance, ask Gary Tyler


Hopefully you'll click on the link about Mr. Tyler and visit one of the sites...and then consider that Bell and Tyler's quest for justice is just that, a quest for...justice. They're not asking for anything more than what's FAIR. That's well worth considering, especially when you think about how many people in this nation have used far less personal injury to far more loudly proclaim not a demand for justice, but a thirst for revenge...