[Dean's World] Aziz P: Jena 6

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Aziz P:
Jena 6
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1190511034.shtml


   I knew nothing - absolutely nothing - about this story until I
   listened to [1]this report on NPR.

   So a bunch of black ruffians beat a white kid nearly to death? No,
   actually the victim had superficial injuries and went to a party later
   that evening.

   The black students were unprovoked and this was out of the blue? No,
   actually it was the culmination of a year of racial tension that began
   when white students hung nooses on a tree to intimdate black students.

   HUNG. NOOSES. FROM. TREES.

   And loony lefty liberals are making a false analogy to the days of Jim
   Crow? No,

     The first to go to court was Mychal Bell, the team's star running
     and defensive back. Bell's court-appointed lawyer refused to mount
     any defense at all, instead resting his case immediately after two
     days of government presentation. An all-white jury found Bell
     guilty.

     A talented athlete, Bell had a real shot at a Division I football
     scholarship. He now faces up to 22 years in prison. The other five
     black students await trial on attempted murder charges.

   Why is Jena important? Why make such a big deal out of it?

     "I think a lot of people recognize that the criminal justice system
     grinds down people of color every day," said J. Richard Cohen,
     president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the civil rights
     group based in Montgomery, Ala. "Oftentimes, it's nameless, it's
     faceless. We know the story in a generic way but not specifically.
     People see Jena as the tip of the iceberg and ask, 'What lies
     beneath?' "

   I think in the case of Jena, it's pretty obvious. And anyone who says
   otherwise is either willfully underinformed, or simply in denial.

References

   1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12353776