Support the Jena 6
Posted on September 20, 2007 - Filed Under Peace News, Politics |
Many of you have probably heard about this incident where six black students in Jena, Louisiana, decided to sit under a tree at their high school that was called the “white tree” by students at the school. The following day there were nooses hanging from the tree in what was an apparent attempt to scare the black students from sitting under the “white tree” again. Wikipedia actually has a pretty good account of what happened, so check it out for the full story.
Today, thousands of people are arriving in Jena to protest excessive criminal charges against the six black Jena teenagers involved in a schoolyard brawl. I must admit that I was mortified when I first heard about this incident two months ago. I’m from a small Midwest town myself where there was definitely some racial prejudice, but by the time I left this town, many things had finally changed and racial relations had improved dramatically. Not too mention most of the tension was economic and not specifically racial. Regardless, it’s not acceptable. I can’t even begin to understand what it must be like to have someone hang a noose in a tree meant to intimidate me, and to have nothing happen to the perpetrators that have essentially threatened to kill me. It’s wrong, wrong, wrong and it’s got to stop! I can only hope that today’s demonstrations will shine a light on these obviously unfair practices and that we will see a day where black people do not have to fear retaliation based on the color of their skin.
Namaste.
Here’s another good article about the Jena 6 from AP.
Comments
2 Responses to “Support the Jena 6”
Leave a Reply
Please, Please, Please don’t rally about the charges…everything I’ve read suggests that they did in fact commit battery. That’s not the problem. The problem is “the white kids tree”
and the problem is the black kids bleachers…ah…that was a train wreck before nooses and before the assault. The men should be charged if they did the crime, the tension and clear racial divide solves a true problem. I always get suspicious about rallying around in this case guilty people (found guilty in a court of law..and from what I’ve read everything points to the fact that they are guilty)
Donkey: I totally agree with you. There definitely should be charges for those that were guilty of attacking Justin Barker, but obviously not attempted murder, especially in light of the kids that hung the nooses were not charged with a hate crime. A fair trial with a jury of their peers is all I am wanting.
Thanks for reading!