(caption: Rev. Al Sharpton marching with the motherof Mychael Bell of the Jena 6)
The Jena 6 debacle is unfortunately one of the worst examples of our attempt to continue the work done during the Civil Rights Movement. Here you have a classic case of wrong on both sides (racial abuse that leads to physical violence) and an honest to goodness chance to transform this instance into a vehicle of in-depth and necessary racial debate and discussion.
Alas, no. First there was the youtube video of the Jena 6 tossing money in the air like a BET Uncut rap video. And yes, I too initially defended the video as false, until the parents came out with a statement defending the actions taking place in the video. The original video has been removed from youtube. The closest I can find is a news report asking what happened to all the money. Close enough:
Jena 6 video
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Now, a year later, we hear Mychael Bell accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gun.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/30/jena.shooting/index.html
Technically nothing wrong with that. I’m from Texas and we have guns everywhere. Your friendly neighborhood hairdresser probably carries a gun just because.
The problem here is image. Tact. Let’s take it to the extreme. Were Rosa Parks’ civil rights as a human being as an American violated when they arrested her on that bus? Yup. Now would you support her if she was also out on the town every night, a heavy drinker, and loose? No. And that’s the point. The Civil Rights Movement was about discipline. The horrid truth is that you cannot effectively fight for your rights if you are not disciplined.
Black people were heavily uneasy about OJ’s infamous victory. True, we wanted to see a Black person finally not get trumped by the system, but dammit… OJ???? And of course he continued to spiral even more out of control, but that’s a different story.
Racism is difficult to fight if… well… it’s always difficult to fight. It’s harder to fight if you can’t convince others that the delicate race-based issue at hand deserves a close intraspection and carefully crafted analysis. The desire to craft this analysis and engage in this discussion dissipates when you feature yourself in a youtube video and throw money in the air. At that point you become a thug (right or wrong) and no one wants to hear you. The courts don’t want to hear you. I don’t want to hear you.
Mychael Bell may have just been cleaning his gun, but damit why after all that drama does he have a gun? That’s like OJ writing the If I Did It book. Sure it’s your constitutional right, but what the heck man…
Put down the gun, hold a pocket. Discipline.
4 responses so far ↓
William // December 30, 2008 at 9:47 am |
You can take the thug out of the ghetto but not the ghetto out of the thug. This was ignorant white trash offending ignorant ghetto trash, and idiots like Sharpton having a knee jerk as usual to hop to the defense of the indefensible. The whole community should have been ashamed and steps should have been taken to alleviate the ignorance within. I’m sure the white hick that hung the noose has no remorse and his father and grandfather pat him on the back. While the violent animals that use the fist before the brain were hailed as victims by a former presidential candidate whom arrived on his bus to pat them on the back. It is all a sick cycle of ignorance on so many levels that it causes this country to cringe in disgust. Southern whites need to realize the war is over, they lost and get over it, and ghetto gangsta’s need to realize that they will get no respect until they pull up there pants, raise the baby’s they have and stop idolizing unrealistic rap artists and find real role models. And all of them need to stop playing with guns and get an education!
Krystle // December 31, 2008 at 5:04 am |
So true. People were so for the Jena Six. They were wrong too. Yes they were prosecuted differently then they would have been if they were white, but people were acting like it was ok for them to jump someone. That’s not ok! Maybe I missed it, but I don’t remeber the boys admiting they were wrong in how they reacted to the racism. Of course, people look at him having a gun as him being a thug.
something to think about... // December 31, 2008 at 9:41 am |
I agree with most of what was said here. I too wanted to vomit in my mouth when I saw the two of the 6 parading themselves around the BET awards wearing “bling,” flashy t-shirts, and sun glasses at night. No matter how uncouth their actions, particularly in light of the brewing movement, we also have to remember that while they look like men, these guys are kids whose influences unfortunately, may not be as noble as those had by past civil rights figures. How can we hold them to such an esteemed standard when they don’t have acceptable leadership guiding them on appropriate actions and etiquette? I think that people were so hyped about attaching their names to the “next big cause” and making their own mark on history that they failed to realize just how immature these young men were and that their efforts really should have been tailored to the spiritual, emotional, and cognitive development of these boys. We don’t trust most teenagers to drive, drink, vote, sign contracts, etc… so how can we expect them to adequately cope with such a devastating shock to their sensibilities–the type of incident that most of us, fortunately, will never have to face in such an intimate way in our lifetimes? I think black leadership needs to be looking at themselves as well to see how they could have better mentored and equipped these young men to deal with their circumstances (but alas, this problem is indicative of the general lack of inter-generational relationships and guidance within our community, which is another blog response that I will not get into now).
Furthermore, no matter how reckless these young men were in terms of maintaining their reputations and images after the fact, what they did still doesn’t invalidate the wrongs done to them or the rights that were violated. Unfortunately, it seems that the prejudice in society is so pervasive that a wrong is simply not as wrong if it’s attached to a somewhat unsympathetic character …the type of racism and egregious actions that occurred in Jena however, should not be downplayed because of the human flaws of its victims. I agree that discipline is an essential feature for any movement, but we shouldn’t have to play the role of the “model, passive black person” to receive the justice we deserve and are entitled to by the Constitution.
Nijla // January 1, 2009 at 8:17 pm |
I think it’s rather problematic to entrust the young people involved in the Jena 6 event with the weight and importance of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 60’s. Social context, accountability, and intention play a large part in the reason that such comparison doesn’t work for me.
“It’s harder to fight if you can’t convince others that the delicate race-based issue at hand deserves a close intraspection and carefully crafted analysis.” I am not sure if the youth who physically accosted the white student were trying to convince any of us, or the world, when they committed those actions. The manifestation of racism, silence, and injustice spiraled into their actions. They were just angry. I am not sure they held rallies or sought community support as MLK did. That support came inevitably when the racial dynamics of the situation were brought to light, and justifiably so.
In essence, they were black teenagers who got angry and fought back with their hands, and not their words. I think it’s unfortunate when we infuse certain faith and ideology into a situation that does not hold to that. Why is it difficult to see that these same black teenagers wouldn’t fall victim to mainstream pop/rap culture? I am not surprised that they were in that video because that is the context in which we presently live, and that context is all too appealing to youth of color. I am not one to compare or align Micheal Bell to Rosa Parks because I don’t think he thinks of himself in that way. In what I read it stated that he attempted to kill himself due to the massive media coverage he and the Jena 6 have recieved. That is also not surprising to me.
I think it’s important to look at context when speaking of issues such as this. Of course the Jena 6 was a civil right issue but not in the same vein as the movement in the 60’s. We live in new time where Blackface in movies is accepted and brutalization of black women recieves at best, 30 seconds of coverage on the news. The Jena 6 event is but a manifestation of a country that refuses to acknowlegdge it’s racism, and the anger that rises to the surface as the result.