- Louisiana teen guilty in school beating case - Chicago Tribune article from June 29, 2007 detailing the conviction of Mychael Bell.
- Louisiana town braces as black youth wins appeal - recent article about the appeal win of Mychael Bell and the protests by African Americans.
- White Supremacy and the Jena Six: Southern Discomfort - A commentary by Alice Woodward which examines the deep seeded racial issues of the South and how the Jena incident is a reflection of ongoing racism.
- Commentary: The Jena Six Case, Part Two: White Racism Enrages Us More than Our Own Fratricide - A counterpoint from an African-American perspective questioning why white/black violence is more interesting than black/black violence.
The reason I write this post is due to one of the most idiotic talk radio moments I have heard in many years. Driving from work, I tuned into a public radio station broadcasting from nearby Morgan State University. The host, who I never identified but proved to be one of the best rational debaters/moderators on a public issues talk show, took a call from what I can only consider a hysterical white male. I've known many of these Caucasians, and remain friends with a good many of their ilk - you can tell them apart by their justified racism due to the "white man's burden" and their impassioned belief that they're getting the short end of the stick.
Anyway, this fellow called into the show to discuss the Jena Six. He starts his argument that any time a group of people attack an individual, it should be considered a hate crime. Not a bad argument. The host acknowledged the logic. The caller then uses this point to justify the conviction of Mychael Bell and all of the Jena Six. The host then counters with the crux of the appeal, that Bell ought to be tried as a juvenile and not given an adult's sentence (which was recently agreed upon in appeals court). This sent the caller into an apoplectic spasm of righteous indignation, stating that African Americans use gang tactics to gain a physical advantage, but also by intimidation of the threat of mass violence to unfairly influence "our fair American society."
Now, if you know anything about American history and also analyze our current American society, you can come to the conclusion that not everything is exactly racially harmonious. We're still rife with the problems that crop up from a history rooted in slavery and exclusionary tactics. Some in our country still thinks that denying basic human rights/needs to a class of individuals due to race (Mexicans) or immigrant status is fair game. I digress because I haven't gotten to the key reason why I became infuriated by the caller to the show.
When the host rationally argues against the caller's point that blacks are unfairly influencing society, the caller then switches gears (a technique perfected by conservatives, who love to remain on the offensive but never really acknowledge a criticism) to defend the whites who instigated the increase in racial tension in Jena. Much of the current flare-up has a relatively minor source...three white kids decided to hang nooses in a tree. A stupid gesture rooted in racism, right? Well, not to our caller, who claims adamantly that nooses have no racial implications. He backs up his statement that places nooses in trees is not a hate crime since "we hung many different types of people." I am not making that up. He proceded to say, because American Indians were hung during the Wild West period of the American experience, shouldn't the Indians get angry at the noose?
This is the crucial point, people. This gentleman seemed like a well educated individual. His argument, though flawed stylistically (much too much rhetorical nonsense without a sense of debate, much like the Fox News style of heavy handed inflamatory statements) and flawed in moral correctness, had a structure and logic. This guy was probably a smart guy...but he is racist. That's the key to remember. Racism isn't just that Hollywood, "I'm going to stare at that guy with malice in my heart" crap. Its the justification...the way of saying, "I'm not racist, but..."
Usually, it's something innocuous, like a joke. It's root is in thoughts that you can agree with. "I think a person should be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin." Then it morphs into if/then logical connections, "If someone's committed a crime, then they should get the sentence no matter what their color is." A complete justification, right? But you're not taking into consideration that this is a call for the status quo. Don't rock the boat...
...Well the boat needs to be rocked! The status quo is a white dominated society. Sure, its possible to think that nooses are not racially charged when you're a white person. That comes from the unwavering idea held by most white Americans that racism is dead and that everyone is equal in our enlightened American society. However, the fact that you can see a noose and think a radically different thought than a fellow American who happens to be black shows that the status quo is actually just an imposed historical forgetfulness, an amnesia of only 1-2 generations after the struggles of the civil rights protesters and the death spasms of Jim Crow (who's ghost continues to haunt white suburbs vs black urban neighborhoods).
Obviously the nooses impacted other people the same way as the caller: Once three white students were identified as having hung the nooses on the tree, the school superintendent suspended them for only three days. (The principal had suggested expulsion). The superintendent felt the nooses represented a "youthful stunt."
A youthful stunt of racism...imagine any other symbol used in a similar youthful stunt. Would three white kids get three days of suspension for a swastika? What if three black students wrote "Kill Whitey" on a wall? What if three Muslim student put up a flyer that simply said "Jihad" in a NYC school? See the injustice?!!
The fact that some white people want to gloss this over is ridiculous. It comes from an unrepentant spirit that continues to exist in white America. Hate comments are masked as being "sick and tired of having to apologize for something (slavery/racism) I didn't do."
Read the comments in this blog (elle phd: The Jena Six blogpost):
Blah, blah, blah!!! I am a resident of Jena and i have been a resident here all my life. It is really unfortunate that the news only publishes stories that make these young men, the "Jena 6", seem like victims. I happen to know 3 of them and i assure you they are anything but.
"Nick" proceeds to write that the three Jena Six people he knew were thugs. Thus, injustice at the hands of a jurisprudence system that has been shown to be racially biased in sentencing is completely justified by our white commenter as being warranted.
Want less subtlety? Here's MarkNelson61:
I personally think these Jena6 thugs should go go jail for life. Six black kids beat one white guy unconscious then kicked him while he was out cold. They should be sent to the most brutal prison in American and have their asses beat senseless every day. If that had been 6 white guys beating up a black guy, you would see every black racist come crawling out from under their rocks. They should get exactly what they deserve; life in prison. To hell with al six of them and yes I am white.
What a flat out racist. No, Mark, six white guys beating up a black guy was history in the American South. The white kid who was beaten was a victim. The Jena Six should have been prosecuted in juvenile court. That is the egregious mistake on the part of a zealous district attorney and an all white jury. However, what about the jerks who pulled guns on white people in the days leading to the beat down? Where are their assault with a deadly weapon charges? Where are the hate crime prosecutions for the white noose white kids? What sentence did the guy who beat up a black kid at a party get? (he got a misdemeanor battery charge, not the felony charges of the Jena Six)
Ok...let's get to the conclusion. Racism is still alive. It has been well fed by paranoia. Black America does just as much to keep it alive (on a day to day experience, I get many more Asian jokes/taunted from African Americans than by white people). The racism exists all throughout America (The South hides it better than the "progressive" North). For those of you white Americans who want to try to justify the situation in Jena, shame on you. It is intellectually and morally disingenuous. For the African Americans, keep fighting for equality, but don't turn to brutality. Remember the struggles of Martin Luther King, Jr, and remember that violence works against the movement.
Fin.
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