Let's Remember the Jena Six are Still Just Boys

The definition of racism that I was raised on, "Is the use of one's power against another because of the color of their skin. By definition this can only pertain to white men. Others may have prejudice, but only white men hold all but a few positions of power and influence." I have been aware of the Jena Six as they now have become famously known, since at least the spring time, if not the mid to late winter. The Jena Six are six black young men, teenagers, who got arrested for getting into a fight over three nooses being hung by a couple white students on a tree at their school. Mychal Bell is the only student to be tried and convicted as an adult. He was convicted of aggravated assault as an adult by an all white jury from an all white jury pool. And now is sitting in a prison cell with older men as if his detention is a solution to a problem that has its foundation in repression and division on such a level that nothing else can shine through. Our country is still divided by the color of a person's skin. As a white man, I find it imperative to acknowledge this as justification of our ability to understand all of the problems and divisions that keep us, as a people, separate and unaware of our similarities as a nation. The District Attorney of Jena had come down hard on a group of kids I'm sure he felt vindicated acting against. He stood up in front of the whole school population and said, "I could wipe away your lives with the stroke of a pen." Something I'm sure he didn't want to have go any further, but a threat I feel probably in-sighted a bigger level of anger and resentment than had he kept his comments to resolving the issue for the whole community. Maybe keeping his word was the only motivation he had for following through. Knowing the ensuing aftermath, I don't think his comments were well thought through, or necessary. Having followed Mychal Bell's case for at least a few months has a allowed me to not only get the official story clear, but to hear perspectives from a white retired school board member, a black retired school board member, the mother of one of the Jena Six, and an interview of a couple of the actual Jena Six, including Mychal Bell, right after he had been arraigned, on Democracy Now. I've noticed how this has polarized even conversations in Philadelphia and ignited repressed feelings that raise our consciousness to the Civil Rights movement in the 50's and 60's. Had these kids been able to have a discussion in school about nooses being displayed to everyone, I think the anger expressed would probably have been shown in a way that everyone involved could have understood it much quicker. Putting ourselves in the middle of any situation without allowing both sides to find comfort in the other parties point of view is a major problem to many of the issues that we may resolve someday. The confusion of how this could be happening today I feel is more than valid, especially by people of color, who's families have had to fight so hard for so long for a chance to help allow equality to reign. I stand in solidarity with a way of living that sees it more beneficial breaking down barriers and looking at differences in a way that allows all of us to find their benefits. A world that allows its barriers to be broken down and its people to look each other in the eye to understand equality has no greater strength. Our finding ourselves witnessing a situation like this is a clear sign of not only progress, from the masses of people who already can define this situation from a standpoint of equality, This is also an example that will empower us to when we look at all the people involved as individuals responsible for each of their actions. No one was more at fault than any other. The white students hanging nooses from trees are no less guilty of enraging all of us, than the six black students who allowed their anger to get the better of them. Those white students I believe deserve just as much an opportunity to understand the line they drew in their community. I'm sure they have had no way of understanding the perspective of the black students. I have found hearing another person's perspective is a much better tool than forcing one's opinion on that person. My people of all color's but also, my white family has done everything to allow me to see a different perspective than the one the level of division that came before. I have spent enough time in my city to get an idea of most people's feelings about what it was like back then, and what remains the same today. September 23rd is the 50th anniversary of the forced Integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Minnijean Brown-Trickey was one of the first black students to walk through the doors of Central High School. Returning to Central High School recently, she and a couple of filmmakers made a documentary about Little Rock today. In it she found herself in a class room segregated down the middle, white and black. She said,"...we still line up on two sides of color. And if we keep on saying and talking about and doing the same things that we’ve been doing forever, we’re going to stay the same. And I’m really sorry for us." Finding ourselves at the cusp of such a momentous anniversary, I can not begin to think what the future might hold, could those of us, who have grown out of this struggle, would talk with those who don't know or remember the lessons learned 50 years ago. We are one people in this nation. Our diverse backgrounds lay influence to both our differences and gifts that show our ability to overcome hardship and to open up new points of view from those solidified by no other opinion until now. With all of my hopes and prayers, I send this message in the spirit of allowing all of us to put down our anger for a moment to see the other side and to look at what makes us nothing but the same. We may give ourselves the opportunity to see not only that the people we feel polarized against are inferior, but maybe find some similarities that help us as individuals to be better people ourselves. In a time when we are being forced to acknowledge all of the people who feel forgotten and mistreated. Those who have been locked away and completely separated from the benefits of our society are the first to deserve our acknowledgments as human beings and deserving of our support. They have more reason to be show they can evolve and be different than anyone right now wanting to do the same thing. May we all make a better world by healing the wounds we have before looking anywhere or doing anything else to change it.