Jena 6: What's wrong here? I'll tell you!
What's wrong with this picture? Here's selected excerpts from the background story from AP writer Mary Foster:
JENA, La. - Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens.
The six teens were charged not long after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white high school students who hung nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth teen was charged as a juvenile.
"This is the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system that we've seen," the Rev. Al Sharpton told CBS's "The Early Show" before arriving in Jena. "You can't have two standards of justice."
"We didn't bring race in it," he said. "Those that hung the nooses brought the race into it."
Sharpton, who helped organized the rally, said this could be the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system.
The white teen who was beaten, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.
Bell, 16 at the time of the attack, is the only one of the "Jena Six" to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult.
Students came from universities across the region, including historically black colleges like Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Hampton University and Southern University.
Tina Cheatham missed the civil rights marches at Selma, Montgomery and Little Rock, but she had no intention of missing another brush with history. The 24-year-old Georgia Southern University graduate drove all night to reach tiny Jena in central Louisiana.
In Jena, with only 3,500 residents, some residents worried about safety. Hotels were booked from as far away as Natchez, Miss., to Alexandria, La.
Sharpton, who helped organize the protest, met Bell at the courthouse Wednesday morning. He said Bell is heartened by the show of support and wants to make sure it stays peaceful.
"He doesn't want anything done that would disparage his name — no violence, not even a negative word," Sharpton said."
Ok, now that you've read it what comes into your mind as wrong here?
I'll tell you. This travesty of justice is being addressed as it should, but by mostly black people. In my view it is the white community that should have marched, as it was the nooses that the white children hung on the trees that was the match that ignited this. That single act has shown us all that our white community of which I am a member, hasn't learned much nor taught our children of how WE have created the very conditions which non-whites have to struggle to overcome each and every day. Racism needs to be addressed by whites, not blacks or other non-whites. It's not their fault it's ours!
Until we as a society do something about the conditions we have created over hundreds of years, we will never change these conditions. Tens of thousands of whites should have marched and taken up this cause and not have to leave the blacks to defend themselves for equal justice. We haven't come too far in 200 years from slavery. It would have been great if white students at the school took down the nooses and made those that did it embarrassed and ostracized for their actions and apologized to the black students for the incident. Much would have been accomplished at that school to be proud of. Instead, not even the white teachers, who are entrusted with their learning, took sufficient action. This teaching moment was lost and as usual, it is the black community who has had to point out the obvious to us all. While I am here in California writing this post, in spirit today I am with the marchers and Rev. Sharpton and I apologize to the black students for what they had to endure in now, the 21st century. I thought we had made some small progress over the last 40-50 years but we haven't
Speak out and be involved.
JENA, La. - Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens.
The six teens were charged not long after the local prosecutor declined to charge three white high school students who hung nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder, but that charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth teen was charged as a juvenile.
"This is the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system that we've seen," the Rev. Al Sharpton told CBS's "The Early Show" before arriving in Jena. "You can't have two standards of justice."
"We didn't bring race in it," he said. "Those that hung the nooses brought the race into it."
Sharpton, who helped organized the rally, said this could be the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement, one that would challenge disparities in the justice system.
The white teen who was beaten, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.
Bell, 16 at the time of the attack, is the only one of the "Jena Six" to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult.
Students came from universities across the region, including historically black colleges like Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Hampton University and Southern University.
Tina Cheatham missed the civil rights marches at Selma, Montgomery and Little Rock, but she had no intention of missing another brush with history. The 24-year-old Georgia Southern University graduate drove all night to reach tiny Jena in central Louisiana.
In Jena, with only 3,500 residents, some residents worried about safety. Hotels were booked from as far away as Natchez, Miss., to Alexandria, La.
Sharpton, who helped organize the protest, met Bell at the courthouse Wednesday morning. He said Bell is heartened by the show of support and wants to make sure it stays peaceful.
"He doesn't want anything done that would disparage his name — no violence, not even a negative word," Sharpton said."
Ok, now that you've read it what comes into your mind as wrong here?
I'll tell you. This travesty of justice is being addressed as it should, but by mostly black people. In my view it is the white community that should have marched, as it was the nooses that the white children hung on the trees that was the match that ignited this. That single act has shown us all that our white community of which I am a member, hasn't learned much nor taught our children of how WE have created the very conditions which non-whites have to struggle to overcome each and every day. Racism needs to be addressed by whites, not blacks or other non-whites. It's not their fault it's ours!
Until we as a society do something about the conditions we have created over hundreds of years, we will never change these conditions. Tens of thousands of whites should have marched and taken up this cause and not have to leave the blacks to defend themselves for equal justice. We haven't come too far in 200 years from slavery. It would have been great if white students at the school took down the nooses and made those that did it embarrassed and ostracized for their actions and apologized to the black students for the incident. Much would have been accomplished at that school to be proud of. Instead, not even the white teachers, who are entrusted with their learning, took sufficient action. This teaching moment was lost and as usual, it is the black community who has had to point out the obvious to us all. While I am here in California writing this post, in spirit today I am with the marchers and Rev. Sharpton and I apologize to the black students for what they had to endure in now, the 21st century. I thought we had made some small progress over the last 40-50 years but we haven't
Speak out and be involved.
Labels: blacks, Jena 6, Martin Luther King III, non-whites, Rev. Al Sharpton, white community, whites
posted by Charles Amico at 7:23 AM
6 comments
