Some black people standing right — a couple. All the band geeks right there. White folks under the tree. And we came through, and I seen something hanging there. I told Robert. He looked at it. Everybody was getting — I started getting mad. By the time everybody came, they was trying to cut them down. He described his reaction to the nooses. I seen them hanging. They want to hang somebody. Real nooses, the ones you see on TV are the kind of nooses they were, the ones they play in the movies and they were hanging all the people, you know, and the thing dropped, those were the kind of nooses they were.
I know it was somebody white that hung the nooses in the tree. This is not your damn tree. Do not sit here. You know, you ought to remain in your place, know your place and stay in your place. Now, come on now! The nooses? Justin Purvis, the student who first asked to sit underneath the tree, described how the protest came about.
At an assembly the same day, the district attorney, Reed Walters, accompanied by armed policeman, addressed the students. Substitute teacher Michelle Rogers, one of the few black teachers at the school, was there. They were listening. The kids were quiet. I can end your lives with the stroke of a pen. In October, a black student was beaten for entering a private all-white party. Later that month, a white student pulled a gun on a group of black students at a gas station, claiming self-defense.
The black students wrestled the gun away and reported the incident to police. They were charged with assault and robbery of the gun. Because the case involves alleged violence, all proceedings will be public even though Bell is being tried in juvenile court, ruled state District Judge Thomas Yeager. As discussed in an earlier ABAJournal. Yeager presided over the hearing in the media lawsuit because Mauffray is named as a defendant.
Bell, 17, is black, as were his fellow defendants in the incident that occurred about a year ago. The alleged victim, who reportedly was not seriously injured, is white. The incident may have been fueled, at least in part, by tension over ongoing racially charged incidents at the high school that sparked national civil rights protests. They focused on prosecution of the black students that was viewed by many as harsh, especially in light of apparently lenient treatment accorded white students involved in reported racial threats.
The Jena 6 case resonated among Blacks, especially youth, because of the post-Jim Crow socio-economic and political changes in society. They were confident they could win the fight too. Another positive result of the ongoing Jena 6 case is that the broader framework of exposing the underlying racism in the criminal justice system. A tenth of all Black men between ages 20 and 35 are in jail or prison; Blacks are incarcerated at over eight times the white rate. These numbers and rates are incomparably greater than anything achieved at the height of the Jim Crow era.
There are many reasons for this dysfunction and breakdown, including historic discrimination, unfair justice and assumptions by police Black and white that young Black men in particular are more likely to commit certain criminal offenses. Patterson, and others in Black academia and middle-class civil rights organizations, are right to point to internal problems within the Black community.
It has little to do with addressing racist attitudes still prevalent among many whites, even as a large majority of whites and society oppose blatant racial discrimination. The fundamental impact of the Jena 6 defense campaign is that many Americans — whites as well as Blacks —- have woken up and begun to act.
After years of inaction on issues of racism, this change is inspiring. The politicization of the rap community, as well as other artists, is indication of that change. Yet no movement is ever a repeat of past movements. However lessons can be learned. The reality today, where legal segregation is now illegal, is to fight de facto segregation and racism. To grow into a new civil rights movement, the current campaign must define its own agenda.
The new racism must be fought town by town. The problems within the Black community must be faced. The lack of generalized response by the Black middle class must be recognized as well. For a new civil rights movement to rise, it must include demands to reform the criminal justice system.
The hundreds of thousands of Black youth falsely incarcerated should be freed and allowed to re-enter society with proper training and jobs. The Jena 6 has opened the doors to look at all issues of modern day racism, as well as a discussion of what is necessary to help forge a new Black solidarity effort within the community that can move the fight for true equality forward.
The campaign to free the Jena 6 makes all this possible. Skip to content Against the Current, No. Positive Impact The mass pressure has had an impact in the town and state. Not the Old South There have been real changes since the s across the South, including rural towns.
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