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Six young black men are headed for 20+ year prison sentences in a clear case of Jim Crow “justice.”
Their families are fighting but need our support. Will you stand with them?
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A lot of bloggers in the Black Blogosphere have posted about the Jena 6, young black men charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in one of the most blatantly racist prosecutions I’ve come across lately. I’ve been largely silent on this blog because this is one of those rare cases where the situation makes me so angry I can’t even call it anger, anymore. I am furious. I don’t know if a word has been invented that accurately describes my feelings about this.
Which doesn’t make for an interesting post. Maybe I should just do a video of me taking a hammer to my wall and furniture, cuz that’s the level I’m at.
I didn’t want to let too much time go by before posting about it, though. Especially as it highlights just how far we have not come as a country. It doesn’t matter that this is happening in the South. We cannot just write off the South when something especially heinous happens down there. It’s America. North, South, East, West, Midwest, Bible Belt, all of it belongs.
So, in case you’re not familiar with the story of the Jena Six, here are some resources for you:
- Main Jena page at ColorofChange (includes reference links to articles and blog posts about the incident).
- Justice for The Jena Six (includes information about hwo to contact local representatives)
- Friends of Justice blog (posts about Jena Six and other related social justice issues)
More recently:
- School bans shirts supporting attack suspects
- Angry Black Bitch on the Jena Six, with her own take on angered into silence, and also contains links to other bloggers who’ve posted.
From there you can spiral out and find more articles, posts, etc. If this situation angers you as much as it angers me, consider doing something about it. Express your opinion to the prosecutor, the governor, local, state, and federal representatives. Contribute to the defense fund. Educate people about what’s going on. Write a letter to the families affected and offer support. Bug news outlets and ask them why they spent weeks worrying about Michael Vick and whether or not Senator Craig was NOT GAY!!!! yet don’t work themselves into a lather over this.
Oh, and get angry. If there was ever a time for it, now is that time.
ETA: As I come across more Jena Six posts, I’ll list them here.
- As the new school year approaches, Jena, La., is struggling to move beyond the racial strife that ripped it apart - Newsweek
- ‘Jena 6′ case inflames racial tensions - Anderson Cooper 360 blog
- JenaSix.org - information and contacts
- Mychal Bell’s conviction overturned. Still not released from jail, though, because the judge and prosecutor didn’t show up for the bail hearing. Because they suck.
ABW,
We have to agree to disagree on the designation of a crime as a “Hate Crime”.
There is an obvious imbalance in the Law Enfocement and Judicial system that punishes minorities more severely on average than white criminals.
The goal is to equalize the process.
By adding an arbritrary factor of trying to determine a defendants state of mind or ‘hate’ at the time of the crime and modify penalties invites the kind of situation we have in Jena.
Many crimes, not just ones motovated by race are fuled by one form of hate or another.
It is one wild-card that we need to remove from the judicial process.
BW: Y sd: “ntl yr blck prsn nd ntl y, s blck prsn, hv bn cnfrntd wth ns vrtl ntndd s mssg fr y” Wht r y, sm knd f rtrd? “ntl y’r blck prsn”!?!?! Hw’s ths: ntl y’r wht prsn, y cn’t cmmnt n th ssrtn tht wht ppl, bth n gnrl, nd ndvdll r nfrl brndd s rcsts b dvsv nts sch s yrslf, nd tht t’s sn s pltcll ncrrct fr s t rspnd. Snds mnnglss, rght? N mr mnnglss thn th rbbsh tht y’r spsng. K, BW. W gt t. Y’r NGR. Y’r BLCK. Y’r WMN. N dmn hnk cn ndrstnd wht ts lk, bcs ll hnkys r vl nd stpd, nd r nbl t d thr thn prsct blcks nd wmn. Hnkys shld sht-p, nd p pnnc fr th sns f thr ncstrs nd fllw hnkys. h m, h m, snc ‘m wht mn, ‘d bst grvl bfr yr stndng lgc. ‘m n th grnd nw, tng drt. Tht’s wht y wnt, sn’t t. Bgtd wrd. Y’r prt f th prblm.
“Bigoted weirdo. You’re part of the problem.”
Indeed captain, you are. Thanks for letting us all know that outright. =)
CaptainReality,
At the risk of stating the obvious, ABW’s point is that it is impossible to truly feel the symbolic impact of a hangman’s noose tied to a tree, unless you happen to be a black American. In the context of the Jena 6 situation, the meaning behind the noose to a black American is: “We got away with doing this to your people before, and we’re willing to do it to you too, if you don’t behave.” If you are a white American, you have no history of being lynched based on your race. Plus, the implied threat is not directed to you as a white American. So, while you may be able to understand intellectually that someone is being threatened, it is impossible for you to feel personally threatened, the way a black American would, because the threat is not directed at you. It’s so obvious that I’m a little embarrassed having to explain it. But, the problem is that you don’t even acknowledge an intellectual understanding of ABW’s point. Until you do, I don’t see how you can expect to be taken seriously. If I were ABW, I would devowel you until you displayed an understanding of what is really going on, and stopped the personal attacks.
Captain Reality wrote: “What are you, some kind of retard? “Until you’re a black person”!?!?!”
Ah, ever the diplomat, Captain…
Let’s see what other little pearls of wisdom you have dropped for us. I like this one:
“How’s this: until you’re a white person, you can’t comment on the assertion that white people are unfairly branded as racists by divisive nuts such as yourself, and that it’s seen as politically incorrect for us to respond.”
Well, *I* can comment on that assertion, and it’s an ignorant bunch of BS. So there. :P
good, the black kids are going to jail. they beat up another kid. that’s what happens.
Thank you for posting and thank you for NOT reading any background as to why this is being discussed. Your opinion is quite useful. [/sarcasm]
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