Leaders Should Intervene To Bring Justice (and Security) To The Jena 6
Last week, thousands of peaceful demonstrators came from across the country to protest the criminal injustice done to young African-American men in Jena, La. The protesters spanned the generations and the country’s geography. They came because of the chilling injustice in Jena, where a series of fights began after white students draped three nooses over the “white tree” in the schoolyard. The white students involved got slaps on the wrist; six African Americans were charged with attempted murder.
They came because Jena isn’t simply in Louisiana; similar injustices take place in our criminal justice system routinely. Mothers and fathers came knowing their children could be the next ones accused.
The demonstration shamed those with a conscience and roused those with hatred in their hearts. Neo-Nazi Web pages have burned with vile denunciations of the Jena 6 and the demonstrators. Last week, www.overthrow.com — an expression of an extremist group that calls itself the American National Socialist Workers Party — chillingly published the names, addresses and telephone numbers of some of the families of the Jena 6. “Get in touch,” the Web page threatened, “and let them know justice is coming.”
“If these n—–s are released or acquitted, we will find out where they live and make sure that white activists and white citizens in Louisiana know it,” ANSWP Commander Bill White stated. “We’ll mail directions to their homes to every white man in Louisiana if we have to in order to find someone willing to deliver justice.” Another white posting on the matter flatly threatened: “Lynch the Jena 6.”
“The best crowd control for such a situation would be a squad of men armed with full automatics and preferably a machine gun as well,” added another posting on the neo-Nazi Vanguard News Network, a white supremacist Web forum.
Threats by neo-Nazi white-supremacy groups need to be taken seriously. These groups are heavily armed and dangerous.
The governor and attorney general of Louisiana are silent. The local prosecutor remains belligerent. This is a time for federal intervention. The federal government intervened in Little Rock and Selma. Local authorities refuse to discharge their duty. The government must act now. I urge President Bush to intervene.
The presidential candidates in both parties should also exercise leadership here, speaking clearly about the need for reconciliation and justice. Republican candidates particularly should demonstrate that they can rise above racial divides to demand fairness and justice in America. Thus far, Republicans have been campaigning as if all America were a white suburb. They cited “scheduling conflicts” to avoid a debate sponsored by a historically black college. Other than John McCain, they ducked the Univision Latino debate. This disdain for reaching out caused former Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp to complain, “What are we going to do — meet in a country club in the suburbs one day?”
But the Democratic nominees should not assume that they can inherit minority votes. They have to earn them. Standing up for justice and against this kind of hatred is an essential measure of leadership.
These threats are serious. The FBI should be investigating; the Justice Department intervening. The civil rights laws were passed to empower the federal government to act. It is time for George W. Bush to stand up.
Jesse Jackson can be reached by email.
© 2007 The Chicago Sun Times
Do you mean the leaders who joined an Affirmative Action law suit on the “white” side on MLK’s birthday? Them leaders?
The man who prosecuted three members of the Duke University lacrosse team on charges that they raped a stripper at a party was disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct and had to serve a day in jail for contempt of court. Relying on testimony, later recanted, from the stripper herself, North Carolina prosecutor Mike Nifong stepped over the line when he withheld exculpatory evidence from the defendants, an act of professional misconduct that cost him his license to practice law.
The man who is prosecuting six high school students in Jena, Louisiana, on charges of attempted murder appeared before reporters this week to justify his prosecution, which arose out of a schoolyard fight. The conviction of one of the students (the others haven’t been tried yet) was overturned on appeal earlier this week because the prosecutor illegally tried the defendant, a juvenile, as an adult. The kid was sitting in a cell Thursday while crowds of protesters descended on the town of 8,000 in protest.
The Jena fight was the culmination of a racially tense school year. Conflict arose when black students insisted on the right to sit under a tree on school grounds that was reserved for whites. The next day, nooses were found hanging from the tree. In the midst of the conflict, Reed Walter, the Louisiana prosecutor, showed up at the school with armed police and announced to the black students present that he could “make your lives disappear” with the stroke of a pen. Violence ensued. Nobody is recommending Walter’s disbarment.
The legal distinction between the two cases seems to be that the complaining witness in the North Carolina case was a black kid and the defendants were white, while in the Louisiana case, the complaining witness is a white kid, and the defendants are all black.
Prosecutorial excess against whites on behalf of blacks is a grave matter, a miscarriage of justice that demands the application of harsh penalties. Prosecutorial excess against blacks on behalf of whites, by contrast, is a trivial matter, so common in our system that it’s taken for granted.
Twelve dozen years post-emancipation and 50 years into the civil rights movement, we haven’t progressed much as a people. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the legal system reflects our ignorance and brutality, but we ought to be outraged.
Good point STEPFOUR. However, I’m uneasy with referring to the woman in the Duke Lacrosse case by her occupation (”stripper”). Why can’t she simply be a woman? But other than that, I agree with you 100%.
The events described by Jesse Jackson are inevitable. I tuned in to CNN when the Jena story “broke” in the MSM and remember one guest speaker(can’t remember his name)bascially agreeing with the prosecution while ignoring the underlying facts surrounding the events leading up to the fight. I can only imagine how certain Fox “News” pundits framed the Jena case.
If MSM fails to accurately report stories such as these, then we should expect Neo-Nazi groups to be up in arms. They already get their news from fringe segments, but if on the odd chance they tune into MSM, what do they find? Reinforcement of their world view.
Brother man, you got the right rainbow, but we got the wrong nut case in chief.
From the onset of this nation and even after the Emancipation Proclamation and the establishment of the 13th, 14th and 15th ammendments, The United States Government in collusion with state and local law enforcement agencies have perpetrated vicious assaults on peoples of African descent in this country over and over without remorse for almost 150 yrs. Up to this very day, in city after city, you see and hear of reports of police officers, prosecutors, attorneys and judges abusing the rights of African Americans. It is no secret that those who control the Judicial System of this country practice double standards when Blacks enter the system. The profiling, scapegoating, framing and brutalizng of “so-called minorities” will continue until God’s Kingdom comes. You see only God Almighty can change these peoples hearts, because it has been inbredded in their minds that they must control Blacks by threat and intimidation. The hanging of the noose is a perfect example, proving that their children have even inherited these tactics. When cops taser women over and over again to make themselves feel powerful, it goes to show that the training and mentality of these “brute-like beasts” reflects the over-all mindset of the larger “BEAST”, your Government. America can never erase the ugly stain of “Perverted Justice” in this country, because the perversion is rooted in their hearts. White America’s denial of guilt and their shame is overshadowed by a false pride (superiority) that pervades throughout this land. Believe this people! Jehovah will one day soon, humble us all, and you cannot blame him for executing judgement, because he warned us to change our ways!
“Republican candidates particularly should demonstrate that they can rise above racial divides to demand fairness and justice in America. Thus far, Republicans have been campaigning as if all America were a white suburb. They cited “scheduling conflicts” to avoid a debate sponsored by a historically black college. Other than John McCain, they ducked the Univision Latino debate. This disdain for reaching out caused former Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp to complain, “What are we going to do — meet in a country club in the suburbs one day?” ”
But what does one expect from The Republicans?
They SHOULD do this, they SHOULD do that.
They’re not going to do a damn thing. They benefit from the racial divide because it enables their class war. The only color they really care about is green, and I’m not talking about the ecosystem.
“I urge President Bush to intervene.”
I wouldn’t hold your breath Jesse. His disgraceful inaction regarding Hurricane Katrina is evidence enough that at the very least he couldn’t care less. He’s too busy making a fortune in Iraq for himself and his cronies.
All the people in Jena are to the elites are trash, black or white. They want them to fight one another.
And the Dems? LOL! Yeaaah right. At best, they’re well-meaning but inept and timid, at worst compliant.
I hate to be cynical here, but as much as I like Jesse Jackson, I think he has his head in the clouds here.
What? Should he just sit down and have dinner with Dubbya? Hash it out over mashed potatoes?
Some observations:
Much discussion about this on you tube, they are all being spammed with hate speech which I can only assume is a calculated effort by some neo-nazi group. But also a lot of thugs talking mad shit about “whitey” and using “motherfucker” or “nigga” every other word, so I’m sure that doesn’t help either.
I have discovered, however, it is important we don’t run around yelling “free the jena 6″. After all, they did kick the shit out of a kid. (Who by the way didn’t hang the nooses. He was taunting them though.).
But we can point out that some white kids beat up a black kid at a party before this, and used beer bottles, and faced the minor charges typically associated with fights between juveniles.
So instead of saying free the Jena 6, we should be clear in calling for the charges to be greatly reduced. They should of course still be punished in some way. Otherwise, you will get very intense reactions from people who believe that “blacks can just do whatever they want and cry racism. Right O.J. ?”.
I find it amusing, because such folks claim “If the situation was reversed, and whites beat up a black kid, Jesse Jackson would want them to fry.”
But this actually happened in Jena, and the whites got off completely or got charged with misdemeanors. Then there’s that white guy who pulled the shotgun on three black kids and the black kids got charged with trying to steal his gun for wrestling it away from him in their self-defense.
I heart you America.
I think the Jena six should be pardoned by the president the way the boyz at Haditha will be…
Like the OJ trial, it becomes clear that America is not as equal and enlightened as we think it is…
How could we expect Congress to pass laws to protect blacks when the laws are passed in a building built on the backs of slaves and paid for with money embossed with a president who owned slaves in a city named after a slave-owner?
According to the evidence I am aware of six students brutally attacked one of their fellow students, who had nothing to do with hanging the noose. Even if the student had been involved in the noose demonstration that is not reason or right to respond with physical violence against another person. Six attackers may be referred to as a mob. The group of six may not be the innocent victims we are being told they are. Their choice to respond they way they did indicates to me that they were harboring ill feelings well before the noose and tree incident started. I am inclined to believe that if they had taken a different approach in opposing the matter they would have found support from the other students and faculty. Would Dr. King have advised launching a secret attack against an individual? I doubt it. Or am I entirely wrong? Was there an attack on a single student by six of his fellow students? Was the student who was attacked knocked unconscious and while he was down, repeatedly kicked by his attackers? If the answer to my last two questions is yes. Then that is what I would consider to be outrageous and unjust. It seems that actions taken by the six students and the responses from many who support the six students will quickly bring more isolation and separation of one group of Americans from the rest of the country. Violence produces fear and distrust at the least. If integration is something you think you want as a people discontinue responding in ways that produce the opposite. What sane person would want to live and invest in a community where the first response is violence when things don’t go your way? When I first heard about the incident I was shocked. However, I have since thought more about it and heard another side of the story and am now highly skeptical. Reading Mr. Jackson’s article it appears he doesn’t have much to say about the matter. A great portion of the article consists of inflammatory quotes from various sources, and some general rhetoric about politicians. Mr. Jackson is a great speaker with vision, however, I am not moved so easily these days. If they are guilty they don’t deserve a pass and that should be known and said.