Okay, I may get a lot of flack about this post, but its my blog so I am just gonna say what I feel and hope the readers try and understand my point of view. You don't have to agree with me, just try and see both sides of the coin if you do NOT agree with what I am about to say.
Most everyone is aware of the incident involving the 6 teens in Jena, Louisiana who were charged with beating another student. Notice I did not refer to the 6 as "6 black teens" nor did I refer to the other student as "a white student". Guess what? It doesn't matter what color any of them were now does it?
I am an activist and I cannot tell you the countless emails I have received on this matter literally begging for my support of these 6 teens. I have to tell you that I am SHOCKED that anyone is supporting them and is NOT in favor of seeing them punished. Again, I do NOT care what color any of them are, they still beat another human being to the point of unconsciousness. What part of that do most people NOT get??????
Al Sharpton started this BS about this being racial and being racially unfair. Well, it is NOT about race at all. Its about 6 people literally almost beating another person to death. What role does color play here? NONE!
I am from the South where a lot people are racist. I am glad to say I was not raised to be ignorant like that. I was not taught to look at people for their color. I was taught to see people for who they are NOT their skin color.
However, I cannot help but wonder if this situation were reversd. (6 white kids beating 1 black kid) would ANYONE scream it was racial. HELL NO they wouldn't. I am so sick of all the racism crap. Why can people not move beyond that and learn to live in peace???
How come AOL has a special section called "Black Voices"? Yet they do not have one called "White Voices"? Not that I care, but WHY is it only racial when it is reversed. I guarantee if AOL had "White Voices" as one of their sections but no "Black Voices", someone would sue the hell out of them.
Also, there is a Miss Black America Pagent but NOT a Miss White America Pagent? Again, I could care less, but WHY does no one seem to think things like THIS are racial because clearly they would be in all fairness.
Racism exists in the minds of those people who need a crutch to lean on and refuse to move ahead. Anyone can be anything in this life they want to be. If you are strong willed enough NOTHING or NO ONE will hold you back.
Will the Jena 6 get my support. Absolutely not! They committed a crime and should be punished accordingly. I would say the EXACT same thing if the Jena 6 were white.
Sorry, but this has been eating me up for some time and I just felt the need to let it go today. Thanks for listening.
Recent Comments
Antman said (about 1 year ago)
Yup, I'm gonna jump in on this one, cause it's what I do. Unfortunately girl, the problem is not so simple. It is EXTREMELY complicated. I will first start by saying, I DO believe they should be punished. They absolutely deserve to be punished. The issue is what punishment is fair? Second, it IS about race, let's not forget what prompted this altercation, two nooses hangin' from a tree in the south that was supposed to be the "white tree" A tree that the white students had claimed to be theirs. The nooses were placed there to protest the fact that blacks were allowed to sit under the tree during an assembly. This whole thing is about racism, from start to finish. The boy who was beat up in the school cafeteria was sent to the hospital and released later that day and then attended a school event that night. Again, not condoning the behavior, just stating the facts. The Jenna 6, as they have become, were charged with second degree attempted murder. Second degree attempted murder means that although you didn't plan to kill or it wasn't pre-meditated (first degree murder) you did mean to KILL the person. An example; someone comes home from work, they walk in on their spouse with another person and they freak out, take out a gun and shoot them. They never PLANNED or pre-meditated to kill someone, BUT once in the situation they DID mean to kill them. To charge 6 boys who beat someone up in a school cafeteria with attempted murder is egregious. And to your point, white or black it is egregious. That level of charge for that type of offense is completely ludicrous. Assault and battery, manslaughter etc all very, very serious charges would have been far more appropriate charges than attempted murder. The charge in no way fit the crime, white or black. (as a quick asside to put in perspective, our criminal justice system has a history of punishing blacks more harshly than whites, especially when the victims are white. "In cases where the death penalty is an option, blacks who kill whites are 2.5 times more likely to be sentences to death than whites who kill whites, and 3.5 times more likely than blacks who kill blacks.", University of Maryland Study) So why was this about racism? Beyond the fact that it was instigated out of racism, it's because when a minority is treated in a fashion that "APPEARS" inconsistent with the norms of society or the culture, that is what we, people, resort to. We, yes WE resort to blaming racism. Let's not kid ourselves, racism still exists and exists big time. I agree with your point 110% that people can become whatever they want and that society has done a fantastic job at stamping out much of institutional racism. However, racism still exists and it is not just a black white thing. Read today's Wall Street Journal re: Hillary Clinton running for president. Although not race related, the underpinnings of her elect-ability are heavily influenced by gender biases and prejudice. It is my opinion, it is niave of america to believe that race, gender bias and other biases play no role in the lives of it's citizens. We chose as a country to take on one of the most difficult charges in history, and that was to continually integrate millions of different people, races, religions and ideas. To suggest that responsibility will not be fraught with racial challenges and hurdles is naive at best. Finally, I ask you to think about the emotional impact of seeing or just hearing about nooses being hung from a tree at your school if you were black. Keep in mind that lynchings are barely a generation away. It is the grandfathers of these boys who were lynched. Not their great, great, great grandfathers in a time gone by. To many Blacks, the scars from centuries of abuse, lynching, and second class treatment are still raw. Does this absolve the Jenna 6? Absolutely not. What it does do, is it provides context. It allows us to see why it is about race. It gives us insight to how far this country has come and how far it has to go. It acts as a reminder, that if we choose sides we are doomed. If we can put down our differences and see it for what it is, anger, angry whites and angry blacks, both who need to be taken out behind the wood shed and taught that their behavior is absolutely unacceptable. In other terms. When the boys who hung the nooses where found, an entire school and town should have been outraged and the boys should have been punished under the hate-crimes law. Yet they weren't. When the Jenna 6 were charged for the cowardly act of ganging up on one white student they should have been charged with a felony consistent with the act. Yet they weren't. Instead, WE (yes we, as we all have ownership for the actions of our citizens) we're too light on the white boys for their egregious act and were too harsh on the black boys for their egregious act. And look where that got us. The whole thing sounds pretty racist to me. Great post girl. Ya should be in the politics section. Ya got opinions and ya should be heard. Peace!
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Antman said (about 1 year ago)