http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=3D2472-73426Last fall in Jena, Louisiana, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."
The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They
wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were arrested for the theft of the gun.
That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the
black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital but was released
and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.
Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16)
and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. Bail was set so high -- between $70,000 and $138,000 -- that the boys were left in prison for months as families went deep into debt to release them. The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them. Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jail for 22 years. Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bail this week.
In the midst of the Genarlo Wilson case (http://wilsonappeal.com/), and in the wake of the Don Imus and Michael Richard's orations, I ask myself how much progress has been made? In no way am I suggesting that the work of countless civil rights activists and supporters was in vain, but I feel the struggle is no where near over. Legally, we are in the same position as our forefathers subsequent to the abolition of Jim Crow. We are all created equal, right? We're supposed to be entitled to the same rights as anyone else, yet we all know how the justice system can be manipulated to meet a specific goal. The intentions of sanctions, the appellate process, and checks and balances are to ensure that said manipulation doesn't happen, but somehow, it always does. Why, money and power? Since there are more wealthy blacks now than ever, shouldn't we be able to sway things back to center? One OJ acquittal does not an even playing field make. Do we as a people have power? In the entertainment field maybe, marginally in the political arena. Some blacks with power don't see the need to right wrongs, or more importantly, that certain issues are wrong to begin with.
So I'll get to the point. Why is it that some blacks feel that we as a people "dwell" on the past and blame whites for our problems? Why are there other blacks that feel whites are to blame for our problems and that we are still getting the short end of the stick? Does the truth lie somewhere in the middle? (I tend to lean towards the latter.) Sure, we all know that dude that won't go get a job, who dropped out of school, who complains because he is poor. And we also know those stories of those who have pulled themselves up from poverty into the upper echelons of society. Why can't we all do that? Why is affirmative action needed? Why do our people need more help than ever today? Its so much deeper than any one answer.
I will say this, we are the only people to have had everything stolen from us. From our names, to our culture, to our identity, to our families. We didn't have a chance to flee our lands and go somewhere else to start a better life. Our life was transplanted, laid out and regimented for us just like animals. What affect could that have on a black man's psyche, to be beaten, sold and to watch his wife and children raped? How would his children or their children or their children handle the situation? Yeah things are better, but how can you forget (even if it did happen to your great, great great...)? Furthermore, how can you ignore what is still happening today? If whites can casually call us nigger (not is the you're my dog kinda way), nappy headed hoes and Compton crack whores (Paris' rant was by far the most comedic), what do they think of us and what are they planning beyond closed doors?
What do they think of our democratic nominee?
I don't think all or even most whites are flat out racists. I believe many are and most may have some "tendencies" due to their upbringing and conditioning (a master's grandkids have to have some type of entitlement attitude right?)
I will stop typing now. Am I uber sensitive or on point in any way?
1 comment:
It is just as likely to occur today as it did in the 60s but people have just become better at hiding it. From Mel Gibson to Michael Richards to Paris Hilton to the white Katrina doctor whom a grand jury refused to indict for killing 4 black patients because "they were too ill to be moved." The reality is society condones it, black folks accept it and the justice system administers it. Society has made it damn near impossible for blacks, black men in particular, to make a life for himself and support his family. He is constantly degraded and abused. He is looked over for jobs, homes, and government contracts. He is less likely to be forgiven for mistakes. He is more likely to be accused by mistake. He is less likely to be offered employment. He is more likely to be arrested and jailed. He is less likely to be offered a promotion. He is more likely to be paid less than his white counterpart. He is less likely to president. He is more likely to be one of America's most wanted. He is loved by few, hated my many, respected by none. He is a MY HERO!
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