Charles-

I did not suggest that the incidents before justified the fight. Which I will call a fight given the descriptions that I sited in the friends of justice brief. There were words, a fight broke out given all of the tension over the previous months. Is the difference between a fight and an assault one of premeditation? I'm not sure, but the you and others calling it an assault brings to mind nefarious elements and associates them directly and unfairly only with the black students. There are things we will never know because we *weren't* there, and many of the witnesses who were gave conflicting stories, and now that these events are more than a year old, each party will be entrenched in their respective positions because it goes with the narrative that has already been spun by the media: poor white boy beaten by angry black mob- but we'll ignore all the other events that led to that.

Characterizing this as a premeditated assault goes directly into viewing this through the lens of white fear of black rage. Were the nooses premeditated? Was the fight/assault on the black student at the white party premeditated?

Hm....