Its been a while since my last post and a lot has happened and changed since. More will come before the end of the weekend, however I must update you on the Jena 6.
I wrote about the Lousiana teens known as the Jena 6, back in July, because I was somewhat amazed and more disturbed that something so blantantly racist, as whites trying to intimidate blacks with nooses tied to a tree and the legal injustices that would follow, would occur in 2006/2007. Yes, racism is definitely alive and well, but most of my experiences with it, as with others that I know, have been mostly covert. However, I was talking with my father several days ago, and was surprised to discover that he had spoken out against an incident involving white men who had tried to intimidate blacks by tying a noose around a black man’s lunchbox on his job. This was in the late 90’s. According to The Institute for Southern Studies, NBC**, and other media sources cite that the town of Jena once gave over 60% of its vote to former KKK grand coward, David Duke, when he ran for governor. That ought to tell you something about that town.
None the less, supporters are on their way to Jena, as I type, for a rally to be held tomorrow, Thursday, September 20th, to call national attention to the boys’ plight. Thousands are expected to pour into small town Jena tomorrow and information about the rally, as well as efforts to gather people for bus trips to Jena, has been all over urban radio programs here in Los Angeles, and in other large cities as well. A schedule of events, which I located on www.hrcbackstory.org , is as follows:
7am – Convene at Ward 10 Recreation Park to receive information and instructions regarding the day’s events.
8am- March to the Jena Courthouse where judicial proceedings will begin. Prayer will occur after the march.
11am – Rally at the park after sentencing
7pm- Town hall meeting focusing on educational and criminal justice disparities in the U.S. will occur in Alexandria, Lousiana.
Also, I received an e-mail today urging all of those in support of the Jena 6 to show solidarity by wearing all black tomorrow. Well, being that I hadn’t checked my e-mail in a couple of days, I wore my favorite black shirt today. I have another but it’s kind of dressy….oh well, I’ll figure it out.
In my opinion, it has been the internet and the effort of bloggers who have really spread the word about this story. I have seen and heard very little about them on the nightly news and mainstream media, in general, has been slow to pick up this story. Hmmmmm……I wonder why? CNN has done a series of low profile stories on the boys on CNN.com, and I say low profile because the articles that exist about the Jena 6 are no where to be found on their main pages. I found information about the boys on the CNN website by performing a search. This search yielded other blogs and websites and 11 short CNN video clips.
The Jena 6 need your continued support. Visit www.freethejena6.org/, www.colorofchange.org, to learn more about ways that you can help. Also, for more articles and stories regarding the Jena 6, check out the following sites:
**Note** I wanted to post the YouTube NBC clip where the political history of Jena was discussed, but I refused due to the many hateful and racist comments left by some YouTube viewers.
September 20, 2007 at 12:33 am |
I’ve been keeping up with Jena of course and was relieved when the Court overturned that one sentence.
September 20, 2007 at 2:12 pm |
I’m watching a story on the protest on the 5:00 news now. I’m glad the story is getting out there. It is time to end this hatred and discrimination due to race. The story is finally getting the type of publicity it should. Public outcry might be the only thing to help.
September 21, 2007 at 1:34 pm |
I found it offensive that there was no mention of Jena 6 in school and the kids did not even know enough about them to want to get involved. I opened discussion in some of my classes today and was appalled when Black kids said it was all about Black kids beating up a white boy. We went back to the beginning of the incident, reminded them why the noose was so bad and pointed out that any one of them could be a victim. Most of my school is not Black, but I wanted them to understand that this kind of hatred and discrimination is bad for everyone. I’m hoping to work on a fund raiser for the defense fund with some of our students. I am going to bring a copy of your post to school.
September 22, 2007 at 9:43 pm |
Thank you libertyforall! I went to that pesky insect’s blog, commented and stated that of all he was going to do was leave racist and ignorant comments then he needed to stay away.
What’s wrong with him????
September 22, 2007 at 9:55 pm |
Hello Everyone,
Just wanted you all to know that I decided to delete Chris Roach’s comments due to the ignorance and sarcasm contained within them and because he just annoys me. I visited his blog and the ignorance, misinformation, bigotry, etc. that is there is just amazing to me, considering he claims that he is highly educated.
I don’t mind differing opinions and honest attempts at dialog, but he was not about any of that. Therefore, he had to go. Hopefully, he’ll be gone for good.
September 23, 2007 at 10:00 am |
I’m glad you deleted his entry. I looked at his blog too and it made me sick.
September 24, 2007 at 4:22 pm |
We did the Blackout at my school. Lots of students and teachers participated. However, lots of teachers really didn’t understand why they wore black, despite the fact that I had posted several links re: The Jena Six. Lord have mercy.
September 25, 2007 at 7:57 pm |
In my school, almost no one knows what the Jena 6 is about. The only thing some kids told us was that it was about some Black Kids beating up a White kid. I made sure they knew that it was much more involved than that and tried to point out the possiblity that the racism involved could infect all of them, no matter the color of their skin.
So now my students are aware, nothing being done with the other 4500+ kids. I tried to get some fund raising done for them with student government and history classes–no luck. I wish I had the time and the facilities to do more. the teachers that have the ability to do more (because of their posiitions in the school) are doing nothing, even though they are Arfro-Americans. I don’t understand all this indifference.