If your first time hearing abouth this incident is through CNN, then you do not know the whole story. I have first hand knowledge and information regarding the incident from its inception. A am a Louisiana attorney who knows very well the attorneys who were asked to take up the defense of these young men after the public defender railroaded the first trial.

What you see is a bunch of black kids beating down a white kid (what CNN wants you to see). What you do not see is the injustice that has been dealt. For instance, a white kid in Jena brandished a loaded gun at a group of black kids. Black kid wrestles the gun away... black kid charged with theft of a fire arm. What?!? Are you serious?

I don't know what part of the country you are from or what part of the civil rights movement you missed to think that hanging nooses in a tree was nothing more than a practical joke. I would say that the act alone is synonomous with burning a cross on someone's lawn or painting a Swastika on someone's property. The act itself is a tool used to intimidate and to invoke fear in those it was meant to target. It is an act of terrorism, and should be handeled as such.

You'd think that the black students and community overreacted... until it happens to you.

BTW, both Jessie (Rainbow Push) and Al (Black Action Network) are involved. And no, they do not speak for all black people, but are the voice for those who cannot.