2008 Woodie Awards
Jena 6 protest is a good case for our generation's civil rights call
STAFF EDITORIAL
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
LAST THURSDAY, A peaceful protest was held in the small town of Jena, La., as tens of thousands of people flooded Jena from around the country. Additionally, people around the country showed their support for the protest by wearing black and holding rallies of their own in their local communities.
Though the members of the Jena 6 should not be "freed," since they clearly committed a crime, they do deserve equal treatment under the law. (And equal treatment would imply being charged and tried for something.) Being originally charged with attempted murder -- and being taunted by the local district attorney -for a school yard fight speaks of injustice.
But it is not just the exaggerated charges and the seemingly uneven handling of justice that makes this case important. It is the fact that the black students in Jena had been taunted and intimidated for no other visible reason than their race. When the black students decided to challenge the prevailing racial hierarchy by sitting under a "whites-only tree" (after being granted permission by school administration), they were made aware of their "proper place" when several white students subsequently hung nooses from that tree.
But if the big picture here is to address the underlying issues of racism, racial hierarchy and order, and the justice system as a whole, some of the protest organizers have also missed this bigger picture -- even as they speak of this very same bigger picture.
Much of the rhetoric used by some of the protest's most prominent organizers were in terms of "us" versus "them." The language remained very exclusive. This kind of rhetoric is counterproductive, if not downright threatening, to the greater goal. The language used has made many people who are otherwise very sympathetic to the cause become defensive. From the beginning, the goal should have been a call for a protest that symbolized unification and inclusion. Only together as a single people will we have the power to further marginalize and defeat the remaining fringes of racism.
Unfortunately, some of these fringes have responded by showing their ugly faces. There have been several reported instances of people hanging nooses across the country in response to a nation's call for justice and equal treatment. These responses are reprehensible.
Though the members of the Jena 6 should not be "freed," since they clearly committed a crime, they do deserve equal treatment under the law. (And equal treatment would imply being charged and tried for something.) Being originally charged with attempted murder -- and being taunted by the local district attorney -for a school yard fight speaks of injustice.
But it is not just the exaggerated charges and the seemingly uneven handling of justice that makes this case important. It is the fact that the black students in Jena had been taunted and intimidated for no other visible reason than their race. When the black students decided to challenge the prevailing racial hierarchy by sitting under a "whites-only tree" (after being granted permission by school administration), they were made aware of their "proper place" when several white students subsequently hung nooses from that tree.
But if the big picture here is to address the underlying issues of racism, racial hierarchy and order, and the justice system as a whole, some of the protest organizers have also missed this bigger picture -- even as they speak of this very same bigger picture.
Much of the rhetoric used by some of the protest's most prominent organizers were in terms of "us" versus "them." The language remained very exclusive. This kind of rhetoric is counterproductive, if not downright threatening, to the greater goal. The language used has made many people who are otherwise very sympathetic to the cause become defensive. From the beginning, the goal should have been a call for a protest that symbolized unification and inclusion. Only together as a single people will we have the power to further marginalize and defeat the remaining fringes of racism.
Unfortunately, some of these fringes have responded by showing their ugly faces. There have been several reported instances of people hanging nooses across the country in response to a nation's call for justice and equal treatment. These responses are reprehensible.
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