You raise some good points, and I think the unfortunate truth is that the situation is getting used for publicity, and the people on Jena will be left to pick up the pieces.
But it's also not as simple as you suggest. Obviously the six young men commited a crime. And no, as horrifying as the noose incident was, that should not be a crime.
But it's hard not to notice that the students behind the noose incident got about the lightest possible punishment. And there is a backdrop to all of this. I cannot imagine what life is like for black kids in a town where that could even happen.
There have, apparently, been a lot of other less severe incidents before the beating.
So to simply say "noose hangers vs attackers, come on" really misses the context of the incident. And the whole saga of Jena since the noose incident does reveal some really ugly racial stuff.
It's legitimate for someone to point that out. Unfortunately, as I think we both agree that pointing that out in the way that it's happening is probably not going to be much help to anybody who has to live in Jena.
I think it's pretty easy for those of us who don't experience racism in a personal way to say "let's be logical about this" and separate that context from the incident at hand. And we're not wrong, but I think it's worth stopping and listening to what people who DO have to live with that have to say about it, whatever other motives are at play at the moment.
So I'm not disagreeing; I'm just hestitant to dismiss everything we're seeing today in Jena because there are of course people taking advantage of the situation. There's a reason a lot of other unknown people felt compelled to show up there.
A friend of mine had some interesting thoughts about this, from the perspective of someone of south Asian descent, both about the US and her home country (Kuwait): http://vatul.net/blog/index.php/1480/
This is so sad. The black community loses all legitimacy when they are incapable of ever admitting that a member of their own race is EVER wrong. Let me get this straight... 6 guys beat the hell out of one guy and put him in the hospital (see picture: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/...s/ss/events/
u... ) and we have thousands of people marching in their support? Is this for real? Are whole communities actually condoning gang beatings? How pitiful. The responsible position for the black community to hold here would be that the Jena 6 were wrong and they should have to pay for their hate crime (which is exactly what it was). Now if the black community thinks there were crimes that were committed by whites that weren't prosecuted, they could legitimately gripe about that and direct their protests in that direction. However, the answer here isn't to make martyrs out of 6 thugs who beat one young man senseless.
Let's not forget the most important thing:
What does Mos Def think about this?
Oh. Wait. He WAS there.
How very convenient of you, Mr. Wagner, to leave out an accurate time-line of events that would contextualize the events in Jena. There were a series of incidents that lead up to the “six-on-one gang attack.” Very nice usage of the term “gang” by the way.
No one is suggesting that “the gang” of African American students should not be punished for their actions. This is not the issue. The issue is should an over-zealous district attorney be allowed to administer a particular brand of racist justice and get away with it. Mr. Wagner, this is the justice the “Jena 6” supporters seek.
I also find it very interesting that you do not associate nooses with violence. Nooses signal intentionality whether you want to believe that or not. I suspect that your social position prevents you from understanding this point.
Bill, your use of the term “thugs” is very interesting also. I wonder what you label the students responsible for hanging those nooses on “the white tree.” Would you simply call them “white teens” as Mr. Wagner did?
So Derrick, what do you think appropriate punishment should be? I have yet to see, read or hear anyone provide some context as to what they think real "justice" should be in this matter.
Derrick - if the majority of the celebrities descending upon Jena had a fraction of your command of the facts, this wouldn't be an issue.
Sadly, Mos Def and Tyler Perry others make a mockery of the issue AND of "justice" when they flock to Hicksville without a prayer of articulating why.
And before you make assumptions about me, props to Rev. Al Sharpton, whose comments on Jena have been relevant, responsible, and anti-inflammatory.
I calls 'em like I sees 'em.
I was going to write to correct your most grievous error Mr. Wagner, but John already did that pretty well in the first comment.
But to Ike, you're right that not every person who was in Jena today knows all the facts. It's sad that some of the people who get attention because of who they are don't know them. But to imply that we can ignore the issue because Mos Def went but doesn't understand seems absurd.
I'm glad that Mos Def, Mr. Perry, etc called attention to the event--whether or not they understand the intricacies of the case--because it did bring a little more media attention than the issue might have otherwise have received.
David - I know what you're trying to say, but I don't buy the Ends justifying the Means.
Issues are important because they are Important. We don't need another generation sucked into celebrity worship, and believing that nothing matters unless some idiot entertainer tells them so.
If celebrities want to help a cause, let them support it financially, learn how to speak intelligently on behalf, or just get the hell out of the way. Why place yourself out front and center as a "spokesperson" if you can't answer simple questions about why you are there?
I'll answer my own question: because for (most) of the celebrities who trekked to Jena, it was all about themselves. It was all about being seen as "caring" or "fighting against oppression." All style, no substance.
I am not at all dismissing the schism in Jena. Not one bit. I'm outraged at anyone who would pull a self-serving publicity stunt in the name of "Civil Rights", and thereby diminish the very tradition and legacy established by those who wore that mantle in earnest and on principle.
You know who impresses me? Bell. He pleaded with everyone coming to Jena to keep things civil and peaceful.
I think it's worth stopping and listening to what people who DO have to live with that have to say about it, whatever other motives are at play at the moment.
John ... I agree with you and as I wrote, I don't think you have to look too far -- unfortunately -- to find examples of racial disparity in our legal system.
But this hardly seems like the "poster child" for injustice it has been made out to be. This was not a "schoolyard fight" where the authorities went overboard. This was a brutal attack -- six on one -- by adults with criminal records for previous assaults.
They likely would have killed that kid if others had not stepped in. When six people are kicking someone who is unconscious on the ground, a lot of damage can be done.
I just think this kind of outrage would be better served on another situation that warranted attention. It's why the protestors can't really communicate what they mean by justice.
I and a white pastor in Mississippi. I was in Jena on the 20th. I cannot speak to why everyone came to the march, and neither can anyone else. I imagine there were people there for a varity of reasons. I can tell you why I was there. I came because it is obvious that there is a great miscarriage of justice in this case. I think everyone involved can take some responsibility for the crimes committed. The principal of the school had the right idea but he was over ruled by the school board. Shame on them. Parents of all the kids involved should have taken action to resolve the issues. My parents would have. Shame on the parents. Fights and other threatnings should have been handled before the term "the Jena 6" was even coined. There is a long history of all the kids ribbing and provoking each other. It should have been dealt with much eariler. However the DA should not throw the book at kids, treating them as adults, with long and life destroying sentences. Should they be procecuted? Certainly! But they should not be destroyed in the process. I hear people saying that the young man that was beaten could have been killed, but he wasn't. He was not even hospitalized. He is alive and well today, and thank God for it! Our courts are to meet out justice with mercy. I think level headed and unbiased people should be able to decide what the punishment should be. I don't think an inflamed community and a one sided court system made up of an all white judge, DA, and jury will be able to do that. Cooler heads must prevail. I believe that will happen due to courts that are higher than the one in Jena.
PS: I am 63 years old and was raised not far from Jena. I am familiar with the racial divide that exists there. I pray racial healing all over our nation.
I think it's irrelevant what happened before the crime occurred. The point is that the crime is factual. Was the punishment harsh? Definitely. But does that justify them getting off? Hell no. Martin Luther King did not march for the right to kick people in the face. Using these guys as a poster boy for fighting racism effectively pisses in the face of Martin Luther King's teachings.
Oh yeah, and I'm black.
Wow, Mr. Wagner, I was almost excited when I saw a blog on the "Jena 6 March Demonstration" on the internet! But then, I had to read your comments and my excitement faded. I can understand you questioning the demonstration but the terms you used to describe my cousins and the other four defendants in this was far from objective. My mom was born and raised in Jena and I've spent many days there in my lifetime. Jena, like many towns and cities in America, is designed for the positive progress of white Americans. If you are African-American and you reside in Jena, you have to move away to find economic and educational success. And the residents of Jena who are white are just fine with that. Sure, on CNN and other major news outlets they plead to the public's sympathy by stating, "we are not racist!" Ask them if an African-American can move into their neighborhood? Oh yeah, this IS Jean; you have to ask for permission first!!
My post wasn't about whether or not there are racial issues in Jena.
My commentary was about the protestors who seized the story as a "race-based" opportunity without really understanding the full context of their actions.
Then maybe you should just change the focus of your commentary to what originally prompted the march to like, NOOSES HANG AT ALL WHITE TREEE AT JENA HIGH SHCOOL... RACIAL TENSION FLARES... TEEN FIGHTS BRAKE OUT... PROTESTORS RALLY FOR "EQUAL" JUSTICE.
Yes, the protestors, but there is a context to everything. When you're looking at and analyzing social issues you must look at the whole perspective in order to understand the one incident.
Sharnell -
With all due respect, the context of this entry was NOT the thousands who came to Jena to protest an injustice.
This is about the celebrities who pounce on an issue they know NOTHING about, in an effort to either boost their own profiles or to appear relevant and informed.
The individual celebrities mentioned do a disservice to everything you know about Jena and your experience there. They are shameless self-promoters, and NOTHING they do in service to themselves helps the cause.
For the millions of whites who saw this on CNN and MSNBC, and didn't know much about the original case - do you think THEY were moved by seeing interviews with barely literate entertainers who couldn't articulate why they were there? How does that advance the cause of justice, to place the uninformed at the front of the movement?
THAT is the "whole perspective" you must perceive - that the people who need education the most will tune out because the messenger was so ill-suited for the role.
John Wagner,
Do you think 'noose hanging' should be an inclusion to serious crimes; such as yelling 'fire' in a crowded building; or even a teen making a Columbine-like threat; or a genecide-like threat made towards any race?
To me, the noose hanging was like saying that blacks will hang for sitting under this tree. A tree that is historically for whites only-here in 2006.
And whomever was responsible for cutting it down, suggests to me that now that blacks sat under the tree, the tree is tainted and we, 'Jena High Whites' find it no more sacred and will no longer find enjoyment in it being shared with blacks.
I would like to have seen the tree stand. And the day 'justice' is found in both the noose hanging and the assault cases, both sides of the tracks sit under it and share a southern fried chicken meal with a dish of caviar on the side.
Ike,
Listen to what you stated: "that the people who need education the most will tune out because the messenger was so ill-suited for the role." White people need education about discrimination and double-standards in the criminal justice system in 2007??!! Seems to me as if they tuned that message out a long time ago! There have always been outspoken activists since slavery about the ill treatment of African-Americans - so regardless of whose giving the message there's no "articulate" way to express it when it's happening in 2007. Peace.
Sharnelle - you may not realize this, but I am on your side.
Are you essentially giving up, and saying that whites who've grown up in a sheltered environment are incapable of seeing or hearing evidence that will change their hearts? That would be discriminatory on its face.
And you completely missed my use of the word "articulate. Unlike those "well-meaning idiots" who think they're complimenting Senator Obama by calling him "articulate" (when in fact they are revealing an assumption they hold that most blacks are not), I did NOT use that word as an adjective.
I used the word "articulate" as a verb - meaning the act of expressing a cogent, coherent, and informed thought. It is possible to articulate without being particularly "articulate." I'm not talking about dialect, accent, or slang. I'm talking about a complete inability to answer a simple question, and not even the pretense of fact.
And *I* am not the only one who thinks whites need education about discrimination and double-standards in the year 2007. I seem to recall seeing tens of thousands of people there in Jena who strongly felt the need to do precisely that. And of those present, 95% (including the children) would have been better spokespeople and more capable of explaining why they were there than those celebs.
I'm sorry to hear that you apparently believe that white people in 2007 are beyond hope, with their stupidity and ignorance. I'm sorry for those tens of thousands whom you believe wasted their time.
Ike,
This is my last comment because this website is not getting me anywhere, but I would like to share this: when people do not see the unfairness in a situation when the signals are blatant then THEY THEMSELVES have CHOSEN to refuse education about the subject.
On a final note. Let's say the actors, leading activists, entertainers, athletes and other recognizeable faces had not spoken out about the "Jena 6", what would you be possibly stating? The ever classic: WHERE ARE THE LEADERS OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY?
Sharnell, I would say no such thing. Because I don't consider celebrities to be de facto "leaders" of any community, black or white.
I had the privilege of having several conversations with the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. Truly a man of humility, grace, and strength. He is just a man, but a man who rose to the occasion standing up against injustice. God was and remains on his side.
Shuttlesworth didn't lead marches to get his name in the paper. He doesn't seek out cameras now. His role in fighting against discrimination never became an exercise in self-promotion.
Those tens of thousands who came to Jena to make a tangible statement about justice there - whether you agree with them or not - ARE leaders in their own right.
These college kids and young professionals who dropped everything to go used the power and democratization that is the internet to self-organize. When the idea arose, they communicated it rapidly and made it happen. Truly a grass-roots initiative.
The "celebs" who went to Jena did so NOT because they are leaders, but instead followers. They follow the cameras and the publicity wherever they can find it.
Sharnell - I probably fit a lot of stereotypes, and buck just as many. If we met, you and I would find plenty to argue about -- and ALL of it would be petty and minor. We agree on the big things, and if there is any one difference between us it's that I seem to be giving the Jena participants more credit for going because it was important to them, and not because they might catch a glimpse of Mos Def.
I'm a 38 year old man - and there are plenty in my generation that get it. We just don't want the dynamics of media and celebrity to anoint a generation of "black leaders" that don't deserve the title, in name or in deed. That would belittle the engagement and accomplishment of every modern-day Foot Soldier who is doing the right thing for the right reason.
God bless.
Hi!
You Visit A My Site:
http://www.powerpronet.net
casus telefon, telefon dinleme, dinleme cihazi, ortam dinleme, tr dedektif, özel dedektif, mesaj bildirim
Commenting by HaloScan
