by Deputy Diva
It’s time once again to bestow our infamous Bozo the Clown Award to a most deserving individual. It is so fitting that we do this now at the end of the year. This makes the Award that much more noteworthy.
This year’s Biggest Bozo Award goes to Mychal Bell of the Jena 6. Ya’ll remember him?
If not, click HERE and HERE to refresh your memory.
Yahoo news reports:
MONROE, La. – A teen convicted in the “Jena Six” beating case shot himself in the chest and was taken to the hospital Monday, days after his arrest on a shoplifting charge, police said.
Mychal Bell’s wound isn’t life threatening, said Monroe Police Sgt. Cassandra Wooten. The 18-year-old used a .22-caliber firearm in the shooting around 7:40 p.m., she said.
Wooten believes Bell was upset over media coverage of the arrest last week.
“I think he was upset over the incident … and didn’t want to be in the news again,” she said.
Apparently, Bell was booked on Christmas Eve on charges of shoplifting, resisting arrest and simple assault. He is reported to have stolen several shirts and a pair of jeans from a department store and fled when a security guard and off-duty police officer tried to detain him. He was captured hiding under a car and elbowed a security officer when he attempted to apprehend Bell.
It is interesting to note that Bell was in Foster care at the time of this incident.
Bell, the only one of the six who has been tried, has been living in a foster home in Monroe and attending school. SOURCE
Where were his loud-mouthed parents, especially his ‘father,’ Marcus Jones, who has been all over the media at the height of the Jena 6 case; and continued to complain as recently as earlier this year about the ‘poor job’ his son’s (FREE) defense team did, because Mychal was barred from playing football? Click HERE.
Why on earth is this young man not living with his own parents who claimed that they cared so much for him and that he “wasn’t raised like this?”
With all of the money these folks received, no one thought to send this troubled young man to a therapist for some obviously much needed counseling?
These folks are an absolute disgrace. Mychal Bell really needs to grow up and learn personal responsibility that his parents obviously have neglected to teach him. Once he does this, perhaps he will stay out of the headlines as the common thief and hood-rat that he has demonstrated time and time again that he is.
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Diva, I have to be honest with you.
I don’t agree with you on any level on this. First of all, I don’t know the psychological toll that he went through as a result of JENA-6.
But obviously he is suffering emotionally. I don’t call a suicide attempt by a young man attention whoring. And I don’t see him as a clown. I personally view this as a horrible situation wherein a young man needs help.
I’ll read this story and say more later.
For the lurkers…..the views of the writers of the Hicktown articles are not necessarily the views of Hicktown. Every one of our writers have their own personalities, their own thoughts and their own views. I allow freedom of expression but my writers and I are free not to agree with each other and nothing personal is taken by that.
This young man is very troubled. The attempt to kill himself isn’t what I have a beef with him for, but the circumstance surrounding the alleged shoplifting charges. This reminds me of Rodney King. He was brutally beaten by the cops and there was a great outpouring of support for his cause. Well, what happened, he got all this money from the lawsuit and he didn’t change his lifestyle or his mindset. It seems as Mychal Bell has had one run-in with the law after the other. He needs help and he needs to change. If he does not heed, he will certainly end up in prison for sure. Personally I wouldn’t call him a clown but I am very disappointed that he is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. The shoplifting could have been avoided, if he is guilty of that.
I remain disgusted by CONSTANTLY reading about this young man being arrested for one offense after the other, especially after so many people sent so much money to mainly help him (the primary defendant) get out of that Jena 6 mess.
I notice that the last 2 arrests were kept rather quiet and we might not have heard about the lastest shoplifting incident if he hadn’t shot himself afterwards.
I agree that he is obviously troubled. His actions, I believe are a cry for help and attention. His parents have been the main attention whores though throughout, especially his father, Marcus Jones, who has critcized organizations/people for not giving enough money… the lawyers for not being able to get Mychal’s bail reduced (the judge wouldn’t reduce it because of Mychal’s extensive arrest record), it was somehow the lawyer’s fault that his son couldn’t play football, as he claimed the talent scouts wouldn’t be able to see him.
Honestly, what talent scout would scoop up a player with a lengthy rap sheet?
I still would like to know why after both this young man’s parents have been crusading for him all this time, he wasn’t even living with either of them, but was in FOSTER CARE?
The real losers in all of this are those who sent money to help this young man and the others as it seems every story that is written about any of the Jena 6 is a classic example of a piping hot ghetto mess!
I agree with you Lynn, this child has some serious problems. He just keeps getting in trouble. I certainly hope he does not end up like Rodney King. So sad another young black male gone astray.
Divawidfevah — I hear you. No sports scout will touch him. He has essentially killed any chance of being taken seriously by any of the top colleges and universities. I wonder why he was living in a foster home and not with his parents? Hmmm. Seems to me that his father is so busy hogging the spotlight and fighting with the free attorneys that he missed the most important person in the grand scheme of things. His son. This behavior is an integral reason why some people were skeptical about the whole Jena Six affair. I wonder what Warren Ballentine has to say about this. He got so worked up about the whole affair.
Not only Warren Ballentine, but Big Mouthed Michael Baisden who was publicly slandering other organizations who were collecting money for this family and boasted that he was in constant contact with the families and had raised $1 million.
I also don’t hear a peep anymore from Rev Al. Sharpton. I guess he has been in many an embarassing mess already and certainly doesn’t need any more help from Mychal Bell or the rest of the cast of Jena characters.
Divawidfevah — This is the very reason why people are skeptical of giving money to these causes. Yes, Rev. Al has been rather quiet. Michael Baisden chewed someone out about the donations getting to the family. You are right. I used to listen to his show but I got turned off by some of the topics. They were just too risque and in bad taste to me.
I almost feel sympathy for the young man, almost. If the message you get from your father is you are of no value to me unless you have a contract, it is no wonder. And if he did get a contract, we all know what would have happened to the money.
Even the smallest child knows right from wrong, even if they did have crappy parents.
blackpolitcal – I agree with you about the Michael Baisden show. It seemed most topics related to sexual issues. Got old.
I nearly forgot that his ‘father’ Marcus Jones reportedly spat in the face of one of his son’s attorneys and shoved her. He denies it, but there was apparently enough evidence to land him an assault charge. http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/99999999/NEWS/399990249
And according to Wikipedia, ‘Mama’ Bell was arrested on October 11th of this year for beating 2 women with a shovel. I guess the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree after all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six#cite_note-100
Given his upbringing…all the more reason for me to feel for him.
He may not have had the best examples when it comes to parents, but he definitely knows right from wrong. His actions should be considered an insult to all of the people who supported him through that Jena Six fiasco. Regardless of the path that he used to walk, he should have made it his business not to let his supporters down. He had the perfect opportunity and means to start a clean slate. At this point, he is who he is. Not to say that he can’t change, but the question is more or less does he want to change???
So true Dee. This young man was the most prominent defendant of the Jena 6 and had the ear of many powerful men who could have served as positive role models for him. Instead, I feel he continued to do what he does best, which is play the VICTIM role to the hilt.
He cried that he was a VICTIM of racism in Jena.
Part of his defense was that he was a VICTIM of circumstance.
He then was a VICTIM of the criminal justice system.
He was a VICTIM who couldn’t play football anymore.
He went on to be a VICTIM of the media.
He is now a VICTIM of the department store that he CHOSE to steal from.
This boy knew exactly what he was facing when the Jena story broke. He was also made aware of the fact that he couldn’t play on his football team many months ago and was supposedly working to prove that he had changed his thuggish ways to hopefully try and get back on the team.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g_B895UEtV38cUvZWav9zg08hh3QD95DBLF85
Knowing this, why jeopardize this by stealing from a department store, especially when your picture has been plastered all over the news and you are easily identifiable?
Why?…Because he is still playing the part of the ‘VICTIM‘, because it’s easier than accepting responsibility for his role in this fiasco.
Not to change the subject, but I must comment on Michael Baisden. Pay attention to his subject matter and to his comments. I have really pulled away from him. He talks about sex all the time and ridicules anyone who makes spiritual references. He brags on the fact that he will never marry again. As much as he touts himself to be so motivational towards Blacks, he does not portray the uber positive image that he thinks he does.
One other thing, I want to know if he plans on reaching out to this young man now that the cameras aren’t rolling!
Why was Mychal Bell in foster care?? Why was he shoplifting?? Why was his mom beating those women down with that shovel?? Where did the rest of that Jena Six fund go to after the legal expenses were paid??
DeeLove,
You are going to be helping me with the new blog. You need to start getting some writing experience.
Why don’t you write an article specifically on Baisden and I’ll post it here in Hicktown.
Let’s do that until I have time to get the other blog up and running.
Michael Baisden, in my opinion, is a sick, sick pervert.
DeeLove said: He may not have had the best examples when it comes to parents, but he definitely knows right from wrong.
It sounds that simple, but it’s not that simple. If you grow up in a situation where black is white and up is down and hustling is the norm or drug use is the norm….you may or may not be strong enough to pull towards the light when you are living in the midst of darkness and darkness is what is the norm in your household.
When I was a child, my mother smoked. It was her norm at that time. I KNEW smoking was wrong and for years I harrassed my mother until she quit. Yet, my oldest brother followed in her footsteps and smoked for years. The remainder siblings did not smoke.
In Bell’s case, of course he knows right from wrong. His parents do too. But the culture of their life is what it is and hopefully someone will reach out to that young man.
Will start on Mr. Baisden when I get up from my nap (I just got in from my shift). He has so much potential, but he insists on misusing it. I’ll save my comments for the article.
Thank you pointing out Mychal Bell’s probable existence. You are definitely correct about it being difficult to pull away from an unrighteous lifestyle, especially if that is the only lifestyle that the person may know. I too, should know that first hand. It is just very disappointing for me to see this young man end up pulling a self-fulfilling prophesy as far as the racists see it. Those boys had a lot of support behind them (moral and financial). I don’t want to be too hard on him because he obviously is troubled and is in a bad place. I am praying that this incident serves to be a catalyst for a remarkable turnaround. There is still hope.
I was totally against the support of the Jena 6 after hearing BOTH sides of this story. The black community was fed a load of horse poop on this one.
I watched and read thoroughly investigated reports of both sides of this story and concluded Mr. Bell, the bully with a criminal rap sheet, gathered his gang of other troublemaking friends and decided they wanted to beat up any white student they found. They found one and beat the boy horribly.
After Michael Baisden, Tom Joyner and other black people beat us over the head with this story, it appears no one wanted to hear the truth.
The Jena 6 claimed there was a black tree yet there were nooses hanging from it. A BLACK teacher said this just wasn’t true at all. She said all students use to sit under that tree. No one listened to this woman.
Next, it was reported that some of the boys went on vacation and/or purchsed large ticket items with the money folks weren donating to that cause.
Now it’s being reported that Mr. Bell was about to or did shop lift in Dillards and fled. All sorts of stories are circulating about whether he was cleaning the gun and it went off or he actually attempted suicide.
900 buses of black folks rolled into Jena, La in defense of these boys. Bell’s father was all over the media begging for justice for his son. Now I learn Bell lives in a foster home!!!!!
I feel this way, Bell’s father should have him in therapy to find out why he’s such a troubled youth who continues to be a habitual criminal.
If 900 buses of blacks can take off work and roll into one city for 6 boys, surely they can do the same in the crime infested cities in this country and demand justice too.
Years ago Jesse Jackson, wanting more publicity, decided he was going to defend some hoodlums in IL who were expelled for fighting. I saw the videotape and couldn’t believe my eyes. Those kids deserved to be expelled. Of oourse Jesse used his tired anthem of racism but any sane person looking at the tape could see those students got what they deserved!
Black folks should be careful who they decide to support. I realize our past comes with a lot of hurt and pain but that doesn’t mean we need to hop on every bus of trouble either.