Unless you prefer to only read the news from very particular sources, you should have heard about the ongoing fuckery that is only recently becoming national news in Jena, Louisiana. If you haven’t, I’m not going to bother retelling you the particulars when a google search can get you up to speed faster than anything else.

I initially wasn’t going to write much about this, but then I learned that finally CNN decided to put the story on their main page today. Some clicking around reveals that the story has been the ‘most viewed’ and the ‘most emailed.’ While I am proud that CNN decided to run the story, I stuck wondering what took them so long? And what about local news stations? Why aren’t congressmen getting involved? I think this situation is a prime example of a couple rather obvious (to me)facts:

1) Grassroots campaigns WORK.

You only need to take a look at one of the main website devoted to organizing support for these kids and the number of petitions/volunteers/and buzz that it has generated. This is NOT a story that the major publications want to run. Why? Because 71% of the country probably doesn’t want to be reminded that outside of major metropolitan areas, it’s still Mr. Jim Crow.

2) White people stay slow on the race uptake.

Usually when stories of inequality, injustice or just plain racial bullshit is printed they receive an avalanche of 71%’ers complaining about ‘race cards’ and ‘biases’ dripping with cynicism and complete disbelief. Obviously that isn’t all of em..just a lot. Anyways, if the story gets momentum, then the grey area White people start paying attention as though it’s something new. Not that I’m complaining, because any campaign always needs more people and I’m sure most who are supporting the cause are honestly down for the cause. Remember how long White people refused to believe that we were getting profiled/beat/killed by the police? Not that they ignore other people’s problems purposefully–but part of the privilege of being the right color in this country is that you aren’t obligated to care or pay attention. Must be nice.

3) A fucking noose IS a threat.

The CNN story sort of focuses on this particular jump off. They opened for debate the validity of the kids argument that the nooses that were hung from that infamous tree were perceived as a threat. The Jena school board, city committee, judge, and prosecutor characterize the nooses as a ‘harmless prank,’ which further leads me to believe that a lot White people haven’t changed not one-fuckin-iota. A question of this level of stupidity actually reminds of the rather pointless debate of ‘whether oral sex is adultery’ in regards to Clinton. People are so stupid. Of course oral sex is adultery and OF COURSE Black people are going to interpret nooses as a serious threat. Those White kids knew what they were doing, and they knew what those ropes meant. I cannot fathom the level of beatings that would result if I ever got a noose in my tree. I don’t know any other Black people who would disagree with that statement. Noose = Lynch= a lot of dead Black people. Sort of like an N-Bomb hurled your way = a beating. I always thought everyone knew that, but then again I have been known to give sheeple too much intellectual credit.

4) Homogeneous areas aren’t exactly the best places to expect fairness.

In Kansas City, like probably every other major city in the country, you can drive maybe 30 minutes (usually less) in any direction outside the city limits and the number of minorities becomes zero. Welcome to the majority of America. If the vast majority of the population, the school administration, school board, judicial system, prosecutor, jurors and mayor are White–what makes Black people think that they are going to get a fair deal? At what point in history has that EVER been the case? The school almost/kinda tried to do right and expel the junior Klansmen who hung the nooses, and the Jena School Committe promptly overruled them and suspended the kids for three days. Three days. Seriously, how far have we come?

We’re heading down to Jena on the 20th this month to voice our support and provide something more than lip service and well-wishes. It’s pretty damn easy to sit back and point out bullshit, but I guess I’d rather help do something about it. Check out the Color of Change site, and take a look at some of the updates. I plan on writing more about this once we get down there..

Sign the Petition if this shit makes you feel like I do. Actually holler at me if you’re in the KC Metro and may wanna roll with us on the 20th.

disclaimer: I failed to allocate the A-Team Van for the trip, but don’t let that dissuade you from coming.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 12:28 pm and is filed under travelin', annoyances, wtf. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.