Independent: Black man will spend six years in Georgia prison despite jury finding him 'not guilty'

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

It was different judges.

[DogofWar1]

7 minutes ago, Sacks 'n' Stuff said:

It was different judges.

Ah, that makes it a little different but not really much better.

 

February judge still screwed up royally.

[bearrock]

Before I discuss this particular topic, I want to stress that I think our criminal justice system badly needs a thorough reform, that we overcriminalize our citizens and that there is definitely disproportionate impact along racial lines in the system (and no, it's not because blacks are more likely to commit crimes).

 

I think there are many things you can find troubling in the story, including the realization that eyewitness testimony or identification can be very very unreliable.  

 

With that said, the way the system is current structured in many states, probation violation hearings are not treated like a criminal hearing.  You don't have a right to a jury trial.  Some states do not guarantee right to an attorney.   And they do not require proof beyond reasonable doubt.  Think of the OJ case.  Jury found him not guilty, but OJ was found liable in the civil case.  Just because the evidence doesn't support a criminal conviction, doesn't mean that same evidence can't support a probation violation.  

[Jumbo]

3 hours ago, bearrock said:

I think there are many things you can find troubling in the story, including the realization that eyewitness testimony or identification can be very very unreliable.  

 

 

 

This is one of the things I said about the New Testament when I was 13. 

 

Catholic nuns were everything you've heard about in the Great White North, back in '67.

 

When I began breaking boards, my knuckles were already hardened by Sister Margaret's weighty oak ruler.

 

But I digress.

[LD0506]

Vis-a-vis the exchanges twixt Mayne and Benning, race is THE hot button topic these days and often painful, often intentionally so from both sides to draw blood or make a damning point, but dammit, we HAVE TO be able to talk about it (you know what "have to" means? Means you don't get a choice). Screw up your courage, act like an adult (even if it is an act) and wade in.

 

There are so many elements involved, some expressly historical in this country, many more basic human psychology flaws, all at one time or another exploited gleefully by those that pander for a buck. Tough ****, have to still applies.

 

If I could, I'd say to Mayne, "Hey, if someone is using "that" tone with you, no matter what the circumstances, you just might want to reevaluate what you're trying to communicate and how you're going about it. It's your responsibility to make yourself understood, but making someone agree with you is not.

 

To Benning I'd note something similar, reassess your motivations here, do you genuinely want to spread knowledge, alter perspectives, drive the conversation to some positive result, or is it more important to score points? They are pretty much mutually exclusive. You've got some style, but it has sharp edges. People tend to admire the work of a barber more than a butcher.

 

We're all subject to warped views, human nature and all, but even a semibright individual will recognize that and get some corrective lenses to help improve their vision. Me, you, every single soul, no one is exempt, we all own our views and words and biases and upbringing, at the end of the day you have to sign your name on that arts n crafts project you made of yourself. It should be enjoyable even if its just macaroni art.

 

 

[Bozo the kKklown]

3 hours ago, LD0506 said:

Benning I'd note something similar, reassess your motivations here, do you genuinely want to spread knowledge, alter perspectives, drive the conversation to some positive result, or is it more important to score points? They are pretty much mutually exclusive. You've got some style, but it has sharp edges. People tend to admire the work of a barber more than a butcher.

I'm not scoring points.

 

I have seen so much regression in this country that I am wondering if there was really any strong progress in the first place? A few Posters on this forum have shown that they are deadest against any substantial convo or worse, they do not believe there is a real race problem in this country. Shoot, one of our mods on here has openly mocked the plight of black persons. I am sorry that I am "rough" but maybe the problems in this country with race has made me that way.

[Jumbo]

I actually stared to post this in the emo-terrorists thread, but imma stick it here.

 

just another random sampling of a type that's becoming increasingly more visible the last few years.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/orleans-principal-fired-video-captures-183813968.html

 

 

Quote

 

A charter school principal in New Orleans has lost his job after video surfaced of him appearing to wear Nazi-associated rings. The video, which appeared Thursday, shows then-Principal Nicholas Dean of Crescent Leadership Academy holding an American flag and a shield as he discusses talking to six journalists who “appeared to me completely soulless.”

 

Dean, who identifies himself in the video as Nick Andrews, is also seen wearing a helmet, goggles, and two rings closely associated with Nazism. One appears to be of the German Iron Cross and another a skull ring that was awarded to leading members of the Nazi party, according to the local Times-Picayune. “If foreigners come here with Marxist ideas and Marxist tactics ... it’s my duty to be here,” Dean can be heard saying in the video.

Crescent Leadership Academy said Dean was terminated Thursday.

 

“Educators are role models, and they should prioritize this sacred role above all else,” Superintendent Kunjan Narechania said in a statement. “While the circumstances surrounding this decision are regrettable and damaging, I appreciate the board making a swift decision so that school can move forward and so that our community can continue to heal.”  

 

Dean’s firing came as he was already being investigated after photos emerged of the principal standing next to a Confederate flag and a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee prior to its removal earlier this month. “I didn’t go to protest for either side,” Dean told the Times-Picayune at the time. “I went because I am a historian, educator and New Orleans resident who wanted to observe this monumental event,” he said. “People who know me know that I am a crusader for children and I fight tirelessly on their behalf.”

 

But an investigation by the Times-Picayune also turned up a podcast that Dean was featured on ― under the alias Nick Andrews ― where he discusses his work in predominately black schools. “I started seeing how the black community looked at each other and how race and tribe is so powerful for them, and I really respected that,” Dean says in the podcast. “Even though they fight a lot, kind of tribally, there’s a sense of unity among blacks that’s just understood. That was when I began my own kind of identity, if you will, quest.” 

 

In the podcast, Dean refers to Take ‘Em Down NOLA ― a group that has advocated for removing Confederate monuments ― as a “black supremacy movement.”  Dean says in the podcast that he is not a white supremacist, but that by other people’s definition of one, he “most certainly” is. He adds that going to graduate school with “radical leftists” changed his worldview. “If these people get their way, I don’t exist,” Dean says.

 

New Orleans has recently made a massive push to remove Confederate monuments in the city. After Robert E. Lee’s statue was taken down, Mayor Mitch Landrieu made an impassioned speech celebrating the removal. “These statues are not just stone and metal,” Landrieu told a crowd at Gallier Hall. “They are not just innocent remembrances of a benign history. These monuments purposefully celebrate a fictional, sanitized Confederacy, ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement and the terror that it actually stood for.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LD0506]

4 hours ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

I'm not scoring points.

 

I have seen so much regression in this country that I am wondering if there was really any strong progress in the first place? A few Posters on this forum have shown that they are deadest against any substantial convo or worse, they do not believe there is a real race problem in this country. Shoot, one of our mods on here has openly mocked the plight of black persons. I am sorry that I am "rough" but maybe the problems in this country with race has made me that way.

 

Personally, I like the edge and I am thick skinned enough that you ain't cuttin' me without really workin' at it, but not everyone is. I hear ya though, and voices do need to be raised, I guess we are in a phase where any toes that get stepped on will just have to be written off to collateral damage?