Mychal and the angels ...

When someone commits a crime or an offense, he should be arrested, tried and found either innocent, or guilty and the punishment handed down by a competent body of jurisdiction. This brother is not on trial for his past offenses, he's on trial for his current offense. Now I'll admit as well, that it urks the heck out of me to see the usual two running to where the cameras are everytime there is an outcry, and they often go off inciting chaos without waiting for the facts to be presented.

But where I draw the line at is the question of whether or not he, given the punishment handed down to the white students, was and is being judged by a 'competent body of jurisdiction.' This whole thing started with a 'noose' being placed at a tree where the students sat in protest to an area of the school being designated "white only." When a school administrator was questioned, her response was that it wasn't fair, but that's just the way it is.

Have we become so relaxed that the same instrument that was used to hang and kill so many of our grandparents and kinfolk does not prick our conscience when it is placed in front of our younger brothers and sisters as a sign. I'm not saying he should not be punished for the offenses that he committed, but when two Black youth have to wrestle a shotgun away from a white man, and are arrested, that speaks to the credibility of the town's officials to judge justly.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and I asked him what the difference was between Jena and Palestine? The Black youth in Jena are under the same oppressions as Palestinian youth, but the retaliation is different, Black folk just simply will not blow themselves up because we value life just a little bit differently from others, Oh, but we'll beat some Alpha Zulu Zulu in a heartbeat if you push us to it. Nat Turner showed this early on.

So to sum it up, what I am saying is the state of Louisiana has a history of racism, but as of late it has evolved into classism just as America has evolved from Racism to Classism. Mychal Bell should be judged by a competent group of his peers meaning the citizens of his town, but it should be made up equally, not an all white jury with a white judge. as far as his past record, I've walked in those shoes even before him and he deserves to not be judged by us for his past until he has had the chance to see what lies beyond the conditions in Jena, Louisiana