2008 Woodie Awards
Jena Six Rallies
Ron Gamble
Issue date: 10/14/07 Section: Commentary
The headlines read, "Six Black Teens charged with attempted murder in Jena, Louisiana." That sounds like a serious issue.
The led district attorney, Reed Walters, charged the Jena 6 with attempted murder. The lethal weapon he cited to justify the charge: the boys' sneakers.
The so-called weapon in this case was a gym shoe. If this sounds ridicules to you, please let me confirm that this is real and is now affecting the futures of these young men.
Sixty years ago all of the acts that transpired on the grounds of Jena High School in September 2006 would not have seemed too out of character, especially in the South at that time.
When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1, 1955 she was jailed. What Rosa Parks did gave birth to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which became part of the Civil Rights Movement. These events made a huge impact on our lives, we thought, especially a few years later when the hard-fought 1964 Civil Rights Act became a reality.
There are similarities. The Jena 6 situation has ignited calls to action in Black communities just as the treatment of Rosa Parks did so long ago.
Members of the Black Student Union spoke last Thursday about events in the last four to five years, events that involved unequal sentencing in criminal cases. I couldn't help but think about the fact that each of us is pro whatever, whether white, Black, Hispanic, Asian or of some other race, culture or heritage. Not one person should feel exultation at the expense of someone's misfortune. I'm sure that everyone has heard of the Golden Rule, the Bible in the book of Matthew Ch.6;12 states, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them."
Those young Black men could have been thinking the same thing when they got into the altercation with the white students, which resulted in the Jena 6 being charged. Two wrongs will never make one right but when an injustice is being done to the very people that our juridical system was designed to protect, there is an urgency to take action.
The led district attorney, Reed Walters, charged the Jena 6 with attempted murder. The lethal weapon he cited to justify the charge: the boys' sneakers.
The so-called weapon in this case was a gym shoe. If this sounds ridicules to you, please let me confirm that this is real and is now affecting the futures of these young men.
Sixty years ago all of the acts that transpired on the grounds of Jena High School in September 2006 would not have seemed too out of character, especially in the South at that time.
When Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1, 1955 she was jailed. What Rosa Parks did gave birth to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which became part of the Civil Rights Movement. These events made a huge impact on our lives, we thought, especially a few years later when the hard-fought 1964 Civil Rights Act became a reality.
There are similarities. The Jena 6 situation has ignited calls to action in Black communities just as the treatment of Rosa Parks did so long ago.
Members of the Black Student Union spoke last Thursday about events in the last four to five years, events that involved unequal sentencing in criminal cases. I couldn't help but think about the fact that each of us is pro whatever, whether white, Black, Hispanic, Asian or of some other race, culture or heritage. Not one person should feel exultation at the expense of someone's misfortune. I'm sure that everyone has heard of the Golden Rule, the Bible in the book of Matthew Ch.6;12 states, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them."
Those young Black men could have been thinking the same thing when they got into the altercation with the white students, which resulted in the Jena 6 being charged. Two wrongs will never make one right but when an injustice is being done to the very people that our juridical system was designed to protect, there is an urgency to take action.
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