PD-

Hanging a noose from a tree to scare someone is of course dispecable. And it is obvious that justice was not even-handed in Jena. Let us also remember that the 6 teens did attack another person. We all should want justice to have taken its course in Jena and mourn the fact that it didn't.

However, it bothers me so much that you would bring hate crime legislation into the formula. Most crimes are predicated on hate. Why should government or a jury be saddled with the responsibility of deciding what was in a persons mind or heart?

If you attack me and put me in the hospital because I dated an ex of yours, is that any better than someone attacking me based off my skin color?? Both are despicable and should be punished.

We shouldn't as a society begin judging people on their thoughts---it is peoples actions that is important.

How can all these protesters be so misguided? This is definitely a hate crime. 6 people of one race beating a person of another race unconscious, standing on his head while unconscious, and continuing to beat him, obviously trying to kill him. One protester tonight stated that Martin Luther King, Jr. would be proud of the people on his bus. I beg to differ. Martin Luther King fought against racism, and he would be sickened to see his great work twisted by these protesters today. Hanging the nooses was an abhorrent crime, but greatly overshadowed by the response. This protest fully supports hate crimes and race-on-race violence, and no punishment for the perpetrators. These people are the new Klu Klux Klan, even worse. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson manipulate these idiots for their own personal and political gain. As for freeing Michael Bell, at the age of 16, this is his fifth time in court. He is already a career criminal that is prone to violence, and they want to make him a civil rights hero? This is all incredibly sickening.

i don't support violence of any kind. but it appears the two posters here fail to realize the implications of hate crimes, and how they cannot be equated with actions people take (i.e. "dating your ex"), but rather less direct questions of humanity (i.e. race, sexual orientation, religion, etc). nor do they realize the psychological violence of a hate crime on an entire community (i.e. the presence of nooses for the black community) v. the physical violence on one person. it's not right, but equating the two illustrates the inability to see the historical shades of gray and fear here.

Your absolutely right shame on those white boys hanging a noose in a tree how insisitive they need to take an example from our black brothers and go yank some innocent white man from a truck and beat em silly because someone else upset them no that would be more reasonable.

Two years in the State my brother who was 12 then was ordered to do a community service because he had beaten one of his classmate for making fun of his accent and my parent was ordered to pay medical bills for the boys. Do i think my brother shouldnt have punished like that since this boy was calling him name( monkey) and making fun of him? I think he deserved the punishement,but the prencipal should have been charge too coz he let this happen over and over. For the Jena six i think the student should have gotten a community service, probation, maybe anger managment classes, maybe require their parent to pay medical bills for the boys, not attempted murder, they didnt go to school with the attention of murdering this boy. Beside i think the school leaders should have been punish coz they didnt look into the matter earlly and susspend the young boys who started they whole racial thing at first to show others that the school doesnt condem such behavior.
I think the judge should be lookked at i think he has some personal issues and he is trying to pay back , just like bush did with Iraq. I grew up in a small country and i never heard or see any racial act like in this country, am very suprise and just hope those young boys get proper treatment and the principal should be in jail.