Today’s big story is the rally in Jena, LA over the six African American high school students who assaulted a fellow white student. This was after the white student, Justin Barker, intimidated and taunted them for several days at school with his friends. Where the discrepancies arise is whether the six attackers, dubbed the “Jena 6,” should be tried as adults with attempted murder charges on their heads. The bigger question is whether this is a race issue or not.
The facts I’ve heard thus far are that about a year ago the racial tension was made public when a black student asked to sit under a tree where white students normally congregated. The white students non-violently (but controversially, insultingly) hung nooses on the tree’s branches to “send a message.” This can be taken as a threat or it can be taken as a warning. Apparently the white students who hung the nooses were given a slap on the hand in the form of in school suspension; this is after the school administration suggested they be expelled.
Three months later, in December of 2006, the six black students attacked Barker after his friends’ week of taunting. The taunting included pulling a gun on some of the black students at a convenience store. Barker survived the attack, but “was taken to a hospital with injuries to both eyes and ears, as well as cuts. His right eye had blood clots.” I have also read that he attended a school function later that night.
One of the charges requires attempted assault with a deadly weapon, or something along those lines. The deadly weapon has been cited as the shoes of the black teens, some of whom were athletes. As of now, five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder, but that charge was reduced to battery for two of them; the sixth teen is being charged as a juvenile. I’ve read different things from different sources, but it seems the three of the teens are still being charged with attempted murder. With a shoe.
As for the race issue, it’s not quite cut and dry for me. Growing up in the South, racism is just about fused in some at a young age. I had a personal taste of it as a young teenager, and it was only in college that I developed my own view on it. I don’t agree with any type of hatred towards a person based on their race or background. Everyone gets a fair shot with me. My point is, in the South there is always that issue, looming overhead like a dark cloud. In high school some of my classmates waved the Confederate flag proudly, but as a symbol of hatred when we played a majority-black school in sports. Most of these kids were backwater rednecks, whose brain functions could take them no farther than high school, and barely that far. I’m not saying that ignorant people harbor racism, I’m just saying that ignorant people don’t think farther than what they’re taught by their own. I have an issue with ignorance.
So is this a race issue? My first instinct says it is. There is a lot to be said about the tension that non-violent acts create. Add that to the workings of the brain of a high school student and the paranoia they must feel. It is easy to say that the white student held some racist thoughts against the black students, solely because of his berating of them the week previous. But in my experience, black people have the capability of being just as racist as white people. So then it’s easy to say the Jena 6 held equally racist thoughts against Barker. The jury that convicted the first student as guilty was all white. I can imagine many viewer’s thoughts of a small, crowded courthouse much like the one portrayed in A Time to Kill; old faded paint and creaking seats, Cypress trees surrounding the town with moss hanging off everything, the jurors dressed in Old South clothing and a southern drawl that rivals my college roommate’s. This depiction will only make things worse.
Then there’s the other side, which says to take the issue as it is, in the here and now. Lay to waste your thoughts of the past actions and anything that could have built up this moment of misjudgment and hatred on both parties. That part of me says there is no race issue, that the Jena 6 were just taking out their week of frustration on Barker, who told one joke too many. I was picked on in high school a bit, I know what it’s like to be so angry and afraid of that one person; you don’t want to turn the corner and see him, or bump into him in the bathroom during class, no one around but the two of you. If I’d have had five friends who were picked on by that same bully, I almost hate to say I’d take out my frustrations on his face.
Perhaps good, perhaps bad is the participation by the Reverend Al Sharpton, who is always first to pop his head up when any issue of black and white arises, even if it’s the color of the next game console. To me, he is fueling this already raging fire. I can only wonder what is going through his mind as he speaks to instill and inspire the massive gathering crowd. The past has taught us about the mob mentality. I only wonder how far they can go while keeping this protest non violent.
So the 21st century Civil Rights movement is upon us this very day. And I can’t decide which side of the fence to party on.
