I wonder if you have all heard about the Jena 6. This should catch you up a bit, in case you have heard nothing. To sum up, seven high school kids jumped another from behind, knocked him unconscious, and beat him while he lay on the ground unconcious. Those facts are not in dispute by anyone. I'd like you to keep that in mind, if you read up other places about this story. The boy that was beaten, and taken to the ER had personally done nothing to any one of the attackers, that is also not in dispute. The seven boys were arrested and charged, the lead instigator was charged as an adult, and charged with attempted murder. A higher court ruled that the boy shouldn't have been tried as an adult, the prosecutor says the reasoning for it was that he had a violent criminal background.
Now, with those facts, note I said facts, I haven't given one ounce of opinion, all above things are fact, and not disputed by anyone, I would love to know why these high schoolers are the new civil rights poster children. Why are Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson marching, proclaiming that this is the new era of civil rights. Now, of course, the easy answer is because those two scumbags have become largely irrelevant and to stay in the public eye, they must stir any pots they come to.
Now, this is not to say that there aren't inequalities in the justice system, they are fairly well documented through studies, even though those studies leave many possible variables for why the disparity is there that isn't racism. I also can't argue that there isn't still racism rampant in the South. I lived there for two years, I saw it first hand. I lived in a town that had a current KKK group. I was 30-40 miles away when James Byrd Jr. was drug to his death behind a truck, sparking one of the biggest KKK rallies in the modern era. I know its there. But this isn't about that.
Stories like this might lead one to believe that this is a story of oppression. Or that it is a fight to free the wrongly accused, or the racially persecuted. One comment at that rally in San Francisco I found particularly telling.
We need to band together, and work together and free the people that are being enslaved in this country,” Keaton said. “Not physical slavery, but the slavery that the system gives us every single day as people of color.
I added the bold. I thought it was interesting, coming from a woman who is currently majoring in psychology, at a state college/university. I guess the system kept her out of Berkely, that must be what she means.
Victimhood has become a disease, a spreading miasma of putrid complacency. Oddly enough, Mother Jones (I know, seriously), had some great insights on this problem here. I particularly liked this here.
The 1960s Civil Rights Movement had to be about what whites were doing to us. Any modern movement needs to be focused inward, on what blacks are doing to themselves or what we're failing to pragmatically respond to.
If you want to stick it to the man, let's police our own neighborhoods. Let's snitch. A lot. Let's make our schools so good they're suing us to get in. Let's take care of ourselves and outlive the bastards. Let's stop using corporal punishment as our primary means of child discipline, limit their TV time and read to them every night. Any one of these will do more for us than a thousand Jenas.
I liked this quote, not because its like, "yeah, you guys fix your own problems", but because almost all of the advice is good for everyone. On the other hand I also saw in this quote proof of the problem. Continued division, and continued hatred. I mean really, it doesn't say take care of ourselves, so we can live long lives and enjoy our families, no, it says, take care, so we can 'outlive the bastards'. Its sad, in its own denunciation of victimhood, it perpetuates the idea.
Should people be involved to get rid of racism in themselves, and in the society as a whole? Absolutely. Should people be involved, and decry injustice when they see it? Without a doubt, and without a doubt, it is there, in many forms. However, lets be very, very clear on the 'Jena 6'. There was only one victim in that entire story, he wasn't a victim because of his color, he wasn't a victim because of society, he wasn't a victim for any other reason than 7 guys decided to beat the crap out of him, jumped him from behind, beat him into unconsiousness, and kicked him as he lay on the ground.
Those actions aren't anything but criminal, and if justice truly prevails in this case, Mychal Bell will, at the least, spend the next 5 years in juvenile custody.
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