MONROE, Louisiana (CNN) -- Mychal Bell says he felt pressure to be perfect after his part of 2006's "Jena 6" assault case was over. When police alleged last month that he wasn't, the Louisiana teen took his Christmas money and sought a gun to kill himself.He'll be on Anderson Cooper tonight. I encourage all of you who supported the Jena 6 to watch. It really is a commentary on how America treats it's black boys. Not that he was failed by the system per se, but rather how he was failed by his community from the start.
More
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Jena 6 - The Aftermath
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts
3 comments:
I hope he gets some help. One has to be in great emotional pain to want end their life. But I can't say that I feel all that sorry for him. I wonder if he would have opted for the suicide if he had not been caught shoplifting. He had a community rally around and support him with the Jena 6 and left alot of people feeling duped.
I just think its sad that he felt like his only ticket in life was football. If you listen to him you know that he could never have gone to college on his own academic merits.
I'm sure he saw his opportunity for a different or better life disappear and fell back on what was easy and pervasive-that "wrong" crowd, if you will.
I think it's also sad that he had such little character training that NOT shoplifting was something too hard to manage. Is that really an expectation that was too hard for him? Were any expectations placed upon him? He just crumbled under the spotlight. It's really sad.
I think this really is a commentary on how families can fail their children.
Yes and we have got to do better by our young men and boys. Our girls have troubles to but, I would bet not nearly as much as our boys. Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu has written several books on raising black boys and he often makes the statement of black mother's raising their daughters and loving their sons.
Post a Comment