Keeping It Right

Keeping It Right is for thought provoking conversationist. It's for those who love to talk about today's issues, yesterday's history and tomorrow's future.

Name:
Location: Texas, United States

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Op/Ed from Reed Walter: Justice In Jena, LA

Reed Walter: Justice in Jena Op/Ed

THE case of the so-called Jena Six has fired the imaginations of thousands, notably young African-Americans who, according to many of their comments, believe they will be in the vanguard of a new civil rights movement. Whether America needs a new civil rights movement I leave to social activists, politicians and the people who must give life to such a cause.
I am a small-town lawyer and prosecutor. For 16 years, it has been my job as the district attorney to review each criminal case brought to me by the police department or the sheriff, match the facts to any applicable laws and seek justice for those who have been harmed. The work is often rewarding, but not always.
I do not question the sincerity or motivation of the 10,000 or more protesters who descended on Jena last week, after riding hundreds of miles on buses. But long before reaching our town of 3,000 people, they had decided that a miscarriage of justice was taking place here. Their anger at me was summed up by a woman who said, "If you can figure out how to make a schoolyard fight into an attempted murder charge, I’m sure you can figure out how to make stringing nooses into a hate crime."

To Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/opinion/26walters.html?_r=1&em&ex=1191038400&en=4f41d573e10c7965&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin

Response: I was a little disappointed with the op/ed cause Walter took the high road by not going in detail of the case and the facts as he knew them. He still left the door open to many unanswered question and allegations that his decision to charge the Jena six wanna be gangsters as adults for the brutal beatdown of Justin Barker, a white teen ager and student. I was expecting Walter to discredit all the open innuedo, but he didn't and yet again shakedown Jesse and Perm Al, the dynamic duo of the "Hustler-teers" got away with spreading rumors and lies and leaving the citizens of Jena, LA shaking their heads in disbelief and wondering what happened to their small town.

Especially, wondering who left a spray canned painting of a big "H" on City Hall.