While we are constantly distracted by the corporate media to believe that things like the Don Imus stupidity amounts to proof that racism is alive and well in America, real racism goes on unmolested and unreported. It is a shame that in 21st century America, we have made very little progress on matter of equality and race. Hundreds of years have produced many positive changes in the country and precious little change in the hearts of people who harbor hate toward other human beings because they are simply different.
If you want to see true racism, I direct you to Jena, Louisiana. In Jena, things like Don Imus are just silly things folks up north banter about while the true practice of racism is continually perfected. In a community that is 85% white there exists a High School where a popular shade tree had an unwritten “whites only” rule. That’s right America, at a public high school in Jena, Louisiana there was a shade tree that blacks were not allowed to sit under. Not a school code, just a communal understanding that whites have preference over blacks. So much was this an understanding at the school that a black student asked permission from the school to sit under the tree. The response the next day were three nooses, in the school colors, were hanging from the tree to greet the student who dared to question racism. Undeterred, black students went and sat under the tree. The students who hung the nooses were suspended and the administration chalked it up to a prank. That is what hanging nooses amounts to in the dirty south, a prank. Never mind the history of those who died at the end of nooses fighting for the freedoms that we are all supposed to be endowed with by our Creator. A prank.
What ensued was an outbreak of fights and unrest at the high school and quite frankly, understandably so. The community responded by sending the District Attorney out to the school, to address the black students. Not to talk to the white students, just the black students. As if that was not offensive enough the direct quote being attributed to the District Attorney toward the black students at this meeting was; “I can end your lives with a stroke of the pen.” Things continued to escalate in Jena as both sides continued their aggression. Black students were assaulted at white parties and three black teens accused a white man of pulling a shotgun on them in the parking lot of a convenience store. This all culminated with an assault by six black teens on a white teen as the result of a fight. The community’s response was to charge the six teens with attempted murder.
Never mind that the “assaulted” white teen was released from the hospital the same day and was seen at a social event later that day having no ill effects from the “attack.” Never mind that a few nights earlier a friend of one of the black teens had his skull opened by a broken bottle and the white assailant in that case was merely charged with “simple battery”; a misdemeanor. No, these six were charged with attempted murder. The first of the “Jena Six” went to trial where the charges were reduced to “aggravated battery”. In order for that to be the charge there needed to be a weapon. The weapon in this case? Tennis shoes. I kid you not. The black youth was defended by a public defender who called no witnesses on his behalf and the all-white jury convicted 17-year old Mychal Bell, who now awaits sentencing where he faces 22 years in jail for fighting with the deadly weapon of tennis shoes.
There are five more of the “Jena Six” awaiting trial, rotting away in prison. They are still charged with attempted murder, so the bails could be set to a level that the families could not bail them out. Jordan Flaherty, the independent journalist who brought this story to the national stage understands what is really going on in Jena, “I don't think there is anyone around that would doubt that if this had been a fight between black students or a fight of white students beating up a black student, you would never be seeing this. It's completely about race. It's completely about two systems of justice."
I do not like using terms like the “dirty south” but this story is simply filthy. It speaks to our souls about who we are as a people. We like to think that we have advanced and progressed but every now and again there is a story like this one that should make you sick to your stomach. I know there is little we can do about bigots and racists. They will always be with us no matter how much we think we have grown as a people. What needs to be absolutely intolerable however is to have that bigotry and racism pervade our governmental systems. Justice is supposed to be blind and that includes color blind. The people of Jena should be ashamed of the taint they have brought to the national landscape. The larger issue remains though the people in positions of power who apparently not only support the inherent racism and bigotry but also drive it. The higher levels of government need to step in and correct this situation immediately. The District Attorney should be fired just for the threat he made to the high school students. Instead, he has kept to his word and is trying to end the lives of six youth with the stroke of his pen. The Public Defender should be fired and disbarred for not representing his client appropriately. Hopefully the judge will come to his senses before sentencing and begins to reverse this horrific trend of injustice.
I do not hold out much hope though for justice in Jena. Somewhere six kids are in jail facing the obliteration of their lives for having a schoolyard fight, where no one was hurt. Somewhere there is a white community that is embracing this instead of being repulsed. Somewhere in America, racism is alive and well.
Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 40-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.
I live here in the South and it's never going to change... If we have a media that's complicit in cheerleading the march to an illegal war by a group of criminals who were practically abetted by the press in their takeover of our nation -why would any of them care about six black kids being victimized by racial taunts and threats???
From what I think I know about the case, and I may be completely wrong about this, the attempted murder charge comes from the black teen(s) continuing to assault the white kid after he was knocked completely unconscious (thus absolutely defenseless and possibly already dead?)...
Seems like a fairly legitimate charge to me -regardless of color.
I think you've simplified matters to a bit of an extreme... not that I think the white kids are worth defending to any degree whatsoever but the battered youth in question was (to my knowledge) attacked by the group and not the other way around. You commit an act of violence and you face the consequences... it's a gamble anytime. They easily could have killed him.
The school officials should lose their jobs over the way they handled the whole thing to begin with... The D.A. as well -for his remarks. The double standard, as you pointed out, is quite obvious...
You should be mad that justice is not served in regards to that instead of angry at the fact that those six teens broke the law and will have to answer for it...
On the other hand, Genarlow Wilson still sits in prison here in Georgia -serving ten years for consensual oral sex with a 15 year old when he was 17 years of age...
Rich white men don't wind up in jail much...
Poor people rarely see justice...
Low-income black men are scarcely treated to even equality let alone justice...
But that doesn't mean those teens had any validation or justification in their violence as I understand it...
I can understand their provocation and desires -but that don't make it right... There's honestly no way to defend their actions.
Sorry.
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 566 comments)
on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 5:14:14 PM
I am not sure where your facts are coming from but i read all i could find on this case:
"From what I think I know about the case, and I may be completely wrong about this, the attempted murder charge comes from the black teen(s) continuing to assault the white kid after he was knocked completely unconscious (thus absolutely defenseless and possibly already dead?)... "
SO THE GUY IS ALMOST DEAD AND YOU KNOW HE WAS UNCONSCIOUS, YET HE WAS RELEASED THE SAME DAY AND SEEN AT A PARTY LATER THAT EVENING? tHAT DOESNT ADD UP FOR ME, SORRY.
"Seems like a fairly legitimate charge to me -regardless of color."
eXCEPT YOUR FACTS ARE WRONG.
"I think you've simplified matters to a bit of an extreme... not that I think the white kids are worth defending to any degree whatsoever but the battered youth in question was (to my knowledge) attacked by the group and not the other way around. You commit an act of violence and you face the consequences... it's a gamble anytime. They easily could have killed him."
PLEASE, POST A LINK THAT SUPPORTS THIS NOTION BECAUSE I HAVENT SEEN IT AT ALL.
"You should be mad that justice is not served in regards to that instead of angry at the fact that those six teens broke the law and will have to answer for it..."
BY NO STRETCH DO I THINK THEY SHOULD NOT FACE CONSEQUENCES, I AM TALKING ABOUT JUSTICE. DO YOU THINK THAT 20 YEARS IS FAIR FOR A SCHOOLYARD FIGHT WHERE NO ONE GOT HURT??? CMON, BE REAL.
"But that doesn't mean those teens had any validation or justification in their violence as I understand it..."
YOU MISSED THE ENTIRE POIINT OF THE ARTICLE AND READ IT FOR SOMETHING IT WAS NOT. bESIDES THAT, YOU ARE MISTAKEN ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE BEAT DOWN FROM WHAT I READ.
"i can understand their provocation and desires -but that don't make it right... There's honestly no way to defend their actions."
THE BACKDROP STORY IS PROVIDED FOR CONTEXT BECAUSE WITHOUT THE CONTEXT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS WHY THE FIGHT OCCURED AT ALL. REGARDLESS, THE ISSUE IS THE RACISM IN THE SYSTEM THAT TAKES A SCHOOLYARD FIGHT AND SEEKS TO DESTROY THE LIVES OF SIX YOUTH BECAUSE OF THEIR COLOR. TO DENY THAT IS SIMPLY BLIND.
AW
by
Anthony Wade (134 articles, 2 quicklinks, 44 diaries, 433 comments)
on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 5:24:36 PM
anthony asks a question, "where's the media?" and i think that needs to be addressed. the above response where the reader detours the story about the media and the iraq war or other cases and then to goes on to say that a kid who was treated and released and out socializing later that night was close to death seems absurd and a detour from the reality of the situation. i was on south street in philly a few weeks ago and a fist fight broke out. i guarantee those guys aren't sitting in a jail somewhere. this is exactly the kind of story we read about from 50 years ago that we would say, "shame, shame, thank God times have changed." well, they haven't and if the mainstream media has time to put in their headlines crap about whether britney spears' ass is showing, they can certainly take the time to, even as objectively as possible, bring this story to light as a serious social issue that needs to be addressed.
by
Cheryl Biren-Wright (15 articles, 11 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 240 comments)
on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 6:01:06 PM
I was not there so i can only go by what is being barely reported by the alternative press. Perhaps if an Olbermann did a segmant on it we could get more specifics. Either way, it certainly doesn't sound like justice to me.
by
Anthony Wade (134 articles, 2 quicklinks, 44 diaries, 433 comments)
on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 6:41:33 PM
I NEVER CLAIMED THE KID WAS ALMOST DEAD... A LITTLE READING COMPREHENSION???
INITIALLY, I WAS ON YOUR SIDE... NOT DETOURING, BUT MAKING THE POINT THAT THE MEDIA ISN'T GOING TO CARE ABOUT JUSTICE FOR ANYONE -LET ALONE SIX BLACK KIDS FROM LOW INCOME FAMILIES IN LA!
GEEZ...
NO THEY WON'T GET JUSTICE. NEITHER WILL GENARLOW.
BUT THE JENA 6 HAVE EVEN LESS COVERAGE THAN G. WILSON AND A FEW EXTRA THINGS WORKING AGAINST THEM SUCH AS BELL'S FOUR PRIOR CHARGES (TWO OF WHICH ARE FOR ASSAULT) AND HIS PROBATION VIOLATIONS -OF WHICH, THE FIGHT WAS ONE! EVEN WITH A CHANGE OF VENUE, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SCREWED!!!
CNN DID AN ADEQUATE JOB FILLING IN THE BACKSTORY AS WELL AND GAVE DETAILS IN THEIR INITIAL NEWSCAST SEGMENT STATING THAT ALL OF THE DEFENDANTS WERE CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING THE WHITE KID, SEVERAL OF THEM STEPPING OUT OF THE CROWD AND ATTACKING THE UNCONSCIOUS BOY AS HE LAY ON THE GROUND WITH A CONCUSSION... HE WAS TREATED AND RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL.
MORE TO COME.
G*DDAMN.
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 566 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 1:58:05 AM
thank you, Anthony. I've been following the case of the Jena Six and it is as you've reported -- blatant racism, at its finest. I've also been following the story of Genarlow Wilson; let us not forget yet another black teen in the south, that has been falsely accused of a serious crime, and has been sitting in prison now for some 2.5 years. The crime? At age 17, having consensual oral sex with his 15 year old girlfriend.
I've also written about Kenneth Foster Jr. - who, under the Texas Law of Parties, was to be executed last Thursday for a crime he didn't commit. Shockingly enough, only hours before his execution, he was given life imprisonment. And there's the dubious conviction of Troy Anthony Davis, also on death row. The list goes on and on.
Sadly, it is not just in the south, although it seems to be festering there, if not thriving. I've seen it firsthand in many places around the country while accompanied by a black friend. It is heartbreaking that in 2007, with war, poverty, disease, starvation, and a host of other horrors, that we still expend so much time and energy in hating anyone seen as different - which translates to an illogical fear of the perceived "other" -- and a nationwide paranoia that George Bush has continued to instill, and to perfection.
Thank you for writing on behalf of the Jena 6. Jan
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Jan Baumgartner (47 articles, 135 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 217 comments)
on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 6:58:52 PM
jan makes a good point that it is not just limited to the south. the buildup to the story "a white tree" does have the haunting sound of the old south, but clearly injustices happen in every state north or south as i'm sure anthony knows anyway.
while i am familiar with the stories jan mentions it's no thanks to the media. you truly need to be connected with certain groups/organizations or fair press forums to know about these in any depth. (although i do think genarlow wilson's story has been featured in primetime on major networks).
but, i write all this to tell anthony that last week i attended a major rally in newark new jersey. THE most diverse rally i have ever been to in my life and deliberately so. one of the issues addressed was police brutality against minorities which is definitely a well-known problem up "north." i would like you to know, though, anthony that there were many, many signs and t-shirts that read "Free the Jena 6." again, no thanks to the lamestream media. thanks for doing their job.
by
Cheryl Biren-Wright (15 articles, 11 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 240 comments)
on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 7:26:52 PM
JENA, LA - August 29 Jena High School bans 'Free the Jena 6' T-shirts
Aug 29, 2007 07:28 AM EST
The LaSalle Parish schools superintendent says T-shirts supporting six black students accused of knocking out a white student, then kicking and stamping on him are a "threat to the order of the campus" at Jena High school. Superintendent Roy Breithaupt says the "Free the Jena 6" T-shirts worn Tuesday by eight or nine students caused disruption on campus, and that -- not the shirts themselves -- was why administrators announced that the shirts cannot be worn at school. John Jenkins' daughters were three of the students who wore the shirts. His son, Carwin Jones, is one of the "Jena 6," who were charged with attempted murder of Justin Barker. Mychal Bell, the only one to be tried so far, was convicted on a reduced charge of aggravated second-degree battery. According to court documents, someone hit Barker from behind, knocking him out, then others began to kick and stomp his "lifeless" body. He spent about three hours in a local emergency room for treatment of injuries to his head and face. Jenkins said his daughters were just trying to make a statement, not cause trouble.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 566 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 2:24:07 AM
...the media is currently engaged in telling us that Britney spears is an unfit mother, as if that's somehow news. I thought so when I saw the picture of her driving with her kid between herself and the steering wheel. A steering wheel which contains an explosive device commonly known as an airbag. Uh DUH!!
Secondly, racism IS NOT the sole property of the south, dirty or otherwise. As a matter of fact, for many years, Ohio boasted the largest number of Klan members. Trust me, the Klan is active in Ohio! They may not be lynching, but you can bet there are crosses burning on warm summer nights in Out-in-the-boonies, Ohio. They even showed up on the steps of the Lucas County Courthouse one summer. I drove by just to see it for myself. There they were, in all their "glory". It peaceful for the most part, but as you might expect, the racial epithets were flying like mosquitoes around a stagnant pond.
And as much as I hate to say it, racism will always exist. It's an inescapable reality. The only way it will ever go away is when the day comes that there is no visually discernible color or racial differences in humans. In other words, sometime about a millennium or so down the road...if then.
We are a slow species to evolve, either genetically or socially. The day may well dawn when things like race, sex, or sexual identity don't have meaning. Until that day comes, we are what we are, where we are, who we are, and how we are.
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 2:54:12 AM
Right wingers, racism, injustice... they're all despicable. I could write a book about it. Here's an excellent article from truthout to supplement Anthony's excellent article.
The people of Jena are beneath contempt. To start off with, David Duke won a majority there, and in the whole parish they live in. These redneck neanderthals are hereditary abusers or neglecters of democracy. Imagine over 230 years and the cretins of Jena still operate in such a hateful way.
While the lamestream media obsess over an ugly aging right wing gay hypocrite in denial (ugly in character and spirit,) wasting hour after our, recycling the same images an sound bites, most of which the make up from their own paid personnel, the real stories, far more moving, far more important, are ignored.
Yet, it is said this is not a simple story. The 16 year old victim of the crimes of the justice system of Jena has a record. He violated parole. We have to wonder what justice gone astray was involved in his previous relations with the courts of Jena, tainted as we now know they are.
The real crime in Jena is against justice. The criminals are being paid as agents of the law. THEY should be charged, tried and jailed.
by
Rob Kall (722 articles, 3752 quicklinks, 305 diaries, 1491 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 4:15:10 AM
"These redneck neanderthals are hereditary abusers or neglecters of democracy. Imagine over 230 years and the cretins of Jena still operate in such a hateful way."
In case you didn't know, "redneck neanderthal" is a very offensive term to us southerners. We southerners feel that we are negatively sterotyped, thrown in together and all equally considered as some subhuman species by northerners. Consider our offense at such terms in the same way you find "Zionist" and "Islamofascist" objectionable. We also resent any insuination that we are inbred idiots or cretins. Our perceptions are that northerners - or should I say yankees - believe that if only southerners were eliminated all the ills in America would vanish. [Since bashing southerners appears ok at OpEd news, I must assume I can bash northerners. So here's a yankee joke: How did you get a yankee to eat grits? Call them polenta, charge ten dollars and act snotty when you serve them.]
MSM has portrayed us all as ignorant blood-thristy lazy scheming sexpot lynching racist homophobic burdens to civilization. Hell, Hollywood has portrayed us as so stupid and simplistic that they have had Yankee actors for decades doing horrible imitations of the the dozens of southern dialects grossly characterized as constituting a single southern accent. All the south is seen as filthy and corrupt, and to be quite honest, it is chauvinistic bigotry and prejudice that would be decried as hate speech if directed toward other groups. But somehow, even among people calling themselves liberal, even people like Bill Maher feel perfectly justified to engage in invoking negative stereotypes, prejudice and bigotry against southerners. How ironic and truly, truly lamentable that there is so much bigotry from people who denounce bigotry. When the conservatives I know here in the most culturally and ethically diverse rural community in the United States hear such remarks about rednecks and the dirty south they typically say something like, "yep, just like liberals. Tolerate anybody and love anybody but us. It's politically correct to hate southerners." What a shame I can't often argue to the contrary to my neighbors. Hate speech is hate speech is hate speech.
by
Richard Mathis (127 articles, 103 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 121 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 7:29:28 PM
for broaching something that i have noticed here on oped. southern bashing. it would appear that rob and the staff have a distinctive blind spot for this.
by
k kelly (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 182 comments)
on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 at 5:48:33 AM
As far as I know, nobody has claimed that there was any justice that went astray in Mr. Bell's previous charges have they? Are we just to assume he's just one of many victims of the world and has gotten a bum deal because he's black? That seems to be what you're implying, no? Just because the present case has some serious racial overtones to it are we to believe that even his initial charges are somehow part of a vast conspiracy to jail law abiding black citizens in Jena? Shame on you.
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 566 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 10:50:04 PM
Even if the Black 16 year old participated in an assault on a white teen that knocked him unconcious and gave him a concussion was on probation for "priors," the fact that the white teen was out of the hospital and at a party three hours later means that a 22 year prison sentence is grossly disproportionate. In fact, this kind of "justice" in Jena is despicable and the people of Jena should be ashamed of themselves.
In fact if the pressure from around the country is not able to prevent this kind of "justice," hopefully enough people will show up in Jena from around the country to nullify such a travesty of justice by extra judicial means.
Robert Halfhill
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rhalfhill (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 252 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 7:10:04 AM
But there is a standard the courts go by and that is why there are limitations as to sentencing per the charges. There's no question that racism has played and continues to play the main role in what transpired down there and what Rob said is much more to the point that should be addressed -prior failings of the system that have lead to this horrible situation for the six youths now charged, especially Bell...
But you guys are continually seeking to justify the means by the ends...
"O well, the kid was in and out of the ER... he only had a concussion anyway... he deserved it... he was out partying later (at a school function)... THAT MEANS THEY DIDN'T MEAN TO F*** HIM UP TOO BAD..."
It doesn't work that way in any court of law, otherwise the charge of Manslaughter wouldn't exist!
Carry on...
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 566 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 11:56:13 AM
an article the other day discussing ecology vs capitalism expressed some of my feelings quite well. capitalism sees people as commodities. there are too many people in this country today as far as the 'capitalist' class is concerned. therefore, they seek to rid the country of this excess. african-american people have always been considered peripheral by these controlling elites. today these people and poor people serve only as cannon fodder or pawns to create the prison-industrial complex which makes fortunes for the haliburtons and keeps whites, who would be otherwise unemployed, working.
capitalism is about power, not people. there is only one underlying philosophical rubric for capitalism: the belief in money and power by any means necessary. humanism is not a value to be admired and supported. i recall years ago being accused of being a bleeding heart because i chose to work with poor women rather than move up the ladder into a political paper pushing job. this from a white male heading a CETA job training program. he made it very clear where his values were and this is what we are facing all the time.
as a consequence we have the jena 6 and genarlow wilson and mumia on death row since the early '80's and the many, many other cases of inhumane justice. if the people of this country don't raise hell over these cases and the continued direction of this country, things will only get worse. i am reminded of the poem by a catholic priest during wwII, which many of you may know. it talked about how they came for the jews but i did nothing; they came for the labor unionists and i did nothing; etc, and when they came for me, there was noone left.' i am not quoting, but the idea is clear.
by
tanya (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 8:01:11 AM
Pappy - i never said it was only in the south, this case was in the south. At the end i even say, "somewhere in America."
Crowbait - i am not sure what your agenda is here but it does not appear to be the truth. You are the one trying to change this discussion into one of excuse making, not I. I have never adiocated that they should not be charged with something. The entire point is that they over charged the six kids. Anyone without an agenda can see that. I would speculate that they overcharged them on purpose to ensure they could not post bail and so they could send a message to the black community. My article primarily was about the injustice in the charges, not in defending the actions. But context is important. I also primarily did call for the real culprits, the officials practicing racism to be held to account so once again, your motives for distorting my point remains unclear.
Rob - thanks for the link
AW
by
Anthony Wade (134 articles, 2 quicklinks, 44 diaries, 433 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 5:59:30 PM
