Why I'm against and for the Reaction to the Jena 6(5 parts)

 

 

 

Part 1

 

            If you are not familiar with the Jena 6, do a quick Google search and catch your self up on the specifics. In general The Jena 6 is six African American males being unjustly prosecuted in Jena, Louisiana who are facing possibly spending a significant part of their adult lives in prison. The usual players and practices are now being set into motion. Everyone from the NAACP to the Nation of Islam is offering help and “monitoring” the proceedings. The NAACP has even passed an emergency resolution in support of the Jena 6. Michael Baisden is organizing people to go to Louisiana to show support and providing the six males mailing addresses in jail so they will know there are people working for their freedom. I appreciate the effort and concern. There is a national reaction, and the outrage and demand for justice is a sign that there is still life in the myths known as the African American Collective Community and Consciousness.

 

            My issue with all of this is its all reactionary. African Americans(AA)  have seemingly bought into the concept of progress based on the passing of years. I hear all the time “it’s 2007 and I can’t believe this kind of thing still happens.” I still don’t know what the two have to do with each other. There has not ever been a period of time where AA haven’t bled, protested, and died for their so called inalienable American rights, so why do we give so much credit to the passing of years?  Why do we act as if there has been some kind of racial and ethical rebirth of the American Way? America has never stopped killing us, they’ve just changed the way they do it, and these reactionary policies and politics will never change this fact. All that will happen, at best, is the Jena 6 will receive justice and we will live in a state of euphoria and false security until the same scenario plays out again somewhere else. If you think I’m being pessimistic look at our history, it will give irrefutable proof of this. This is not the first case of AA coming together to protest a gross injustice and it won’t be the last. Our actions have to become proactive because in the end a community that doesn't police itself and the politics that govern it will become a victim of its own apathy!

 

            We have to take advantage of local and state politics, where one person has one vote, and put people in office who reflect the change we wish to see in the political and justice systems. If there is a shortage of possible candidates then we who have the vision must become the candidates. Police brutality won’t change unless the people who make up the police dept become intolerable of it. Unfair charges and trials won’t change until District Attorneys and Judges refuse to allow such shortcomings in morality to pass for justice. Sentences will not be fair until our peers register to vote and become eligible for jury duty and deal with us fairly. We must find a way, and where there seems to be no way we must make a way. To quote Paul Robeson “…the equal place to which we aspire cannot be reached without the equal rights we demand, and so the winning of these rights is not a maximum fulfillment but a minimum requirement.” We have reached the mountain but not the mountain top and all the marches, protests, and national movements will not make the changes we need to live fairly and equally in this country. It all comes down to AA people taking responsibility and control of their lives. When we quit making excuses and begging for justice and use the wisdom, strength, cunning, resourcefulness, and unwillingness to go quietly into the night to affect our condition, our condition will change. Short of that, keep your picket signs, political chants, and marching shoes in good working condition. You’re going to need them.

 

(part 2 The truth behind the Black Vote and Politics