Published September 22, 2007
No one said that the young men known as the "Jena Six" were innocent of all wrongdoing. But I believe it's very important and productive to look at the bigger picture. Schoolyard fights happen every day,but rarely are those involved charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Every day young, black men are arrested, charged and prosecuted forvarious crimes. Many times, there are no rallies on their behalf andno outcries from the nation about injustice.
Jena was different.
Jena isn't just a small town in Louisiana where six black kids had afight with a white boy. No, Jena is a microcosm of the sometimes strained and failed race relations in Louisiana, the South and the United States.
Thousands upon thousands of people didn't make their way to Jenabecause six black boys were punished for having a fight. People werein Jena because six black boys were excessively punished for having afight while the punishment for whites pulling out a gun on black students, nooses being hung from a tree on school property, guns being concealed on school property and whites beating up blacks were all not treated with the same conviction and fervor.
Because of that, people from all over this country gathered to stand up against civil and social inequality. Participants from Louisiana, Michigan, Georgia, Delaware, Missouri, Maryland, California and otherstates both near and far all felt that what happened in a small town with a population less than 3,000 is important enough for them to take action.
The rally was a reminder that people care. It was a reminder thatracism is, in fact, alive and well. It helped people realize that race relations have improved vastly in the past 50 years, but thatthere is tremendous work that still needs to be done.
The rally in Jena wasn't exclusive to the six individuals being charged.
People didn't just march for Mychal Bell, Theodore Shaw, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Bryant Pervis and the unidentified juvenile.
They also marched for Genarlow Wilson, Gary Tyler, Megan Williams,Troy Lawrence Jr. and countless others.
Wilson is serving a mandatory 10-year sentence in a Georgia prison and considered a sexual predator because, at the age of 17, he hadconsensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. Upon his release, hewill not be able to live with his family because he has a sister who is a minor.
Tyler has been serving a life sentence in Angola since the age of 16 for the 1974 murder of a schoolmate. The murder occurred during the attack of a school bus carrying black children by a white mob displeased with integration. Despite a lack of physical evidence and the bus driver insisting that the shot was from outside the bus, an all-white jury found Tyler guilty. Years later, all witnesses against Tyler recanted their stories saying they were forced to give dishonest testimony because their families were threatened by police.
Last week, Williams, 20, said she was repeatedly raped, burned, choked and stabbed while being held captive by six whites in West Virginia who told her that they don't like black people. Although arrests have been made in the case, people are still troubled by the situation.
In July, New Orleans teenager Lawrence was attacked by Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies after being pulled over, handcuffed and searched for speeding. The unarmed 5-foot-5-inch, 110-pound Lawrence was punched so hard the assaulting deputy's hand was broken becauseof the contact. After breaking his hand the deputy called for backupand Lawrence said this is when eight to 10 officers assaulted him.
In the Jena case, if reports are correct and prosecutor Reed Walters told students to stop making such a big deal over the nooses and thathe could make lives disappear with the stroke of a pen, he should be disbarred. If sneakers are considered a deadly weapon in Jena, the boots of Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies that were used to assault Lawrence should be also.
Though many would call the rally a success, there is much more work that needs to be done all over the country. More wrongs need to be corrected. More rallies need to be planned. More voices need to be heard. More justice and equality need to be sought. More outrage. Less Vick, less O.J. Let us be more proactive so that we'll have to be less reactive.
