“ The United States has the largest incarcerated population of any nation on earth-the people imprisoned in this country represent 25 percent of all prisoners around the world”(Flaherty 135).
For my last blog in this course, I wanted to write about Jena Six. “Jena is largely segregated, from the white barber who refuses to cut Black people’s hair to the invisible line separating the white and Black part of town”(227). In other words, Jena not only is in the mist of visible racism and segregation in the South but it is where six African American students have been faced with large criminal sentencing and offenses instead of shorter ones. The days prior to the event that marked these six individuals, an African American asked the administration if “ it was prohibited to sit under the tree that no African American sat. The next day nooses similar to what was used for lynching hanged the tree” (227). As a result of this simple question lied an underlying of racism and hate both in judicial and public schools system.
The consequences of the nooses being used to instill fear and hatred, a fight would break out between the African Americans and the white boys groups. Later on in mist of all this violence, Justin Barker from the white boys group got injured in this fight became the main reason why these six African Americans from ages 14 to 16 years old were arrested. However, those who were arrested: Theo Shaw, Robert Bailey, Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones, Mychal Ball and Jesse Ray(“Jody”) Beard did not have any history of disciplinary problems. The people who witnessed the fight painted a hazy picture of those who were involved (Flahtery 229). In contingent to their arrest, the six individuals would be later charged with attempted murder for this incident (Flahtery 229). This case is an example of the failure of the judicial system and the racism that many African Americans and other minorities faced. Another inequality that this group experienced was the mere fact that the jurors were only white. The town’s prosecutor Reed Walters was known to be tough on crime. In fact, Jena was a site of a brutal youth prison that was closed in 1999 due to the media bringing to light its abuses (Flahtery 227). However, this was reopened in 2007 as now a privatize facility. These factors were some of the issues these individuals and their families endured. The prosecutor in his own words stated to “ stop making such a big deal over some nooses” (Flahtery228). He continued to state the same thing over and over again neglecting what the nooses meant in our own past’s history. The point of this retelling was these individuals against all odds overcame a tiny victory when themselves, their families, individuals, communities, and a nation began getting involved by placing pressure on the judicial system with its presence and solidarity. Individuals like Catrina Wallace, a young single mother began bring support to these men and other family letter wrote to newspaper and politicians to take action on the matter of this unfair treatment they endured Wallace and the black church Bean, the preacher also help to spread to the nation and the internationally this case. As a result of their efforts and later by the community pressure began and once this story began to be noticed it was difficult for them to be silenced as much has been silenced before.
At a time when the community was needed and the families asked for their support, the people came. “The demonstrators marched through tiny downtown Jena in the biggest civil rights march the town had ever seen. “ Jena was so small,” Jesse Muhummad said later, “ that we started to march, and chanted” ‘ No Justice, No Peac…’ and before we could even finish the phase we had already marched though all of downtown” (238). This protest fueled the solidarity of African Americans and on September 20, 2007, approximately 50,000 people arrived from Baton Rouge, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and other regions in the United States to protest against this injustice (241).
In addition, universities across the nation began to have demonstrations and marches about the situation. Everyone’s voice needed to be heard not just for the Jena 6 but for anyone who received an unfair trial based on the color his or her skin. “Prison makes us all less-free by breaking up families and communities by dehumanizing the imprisoned both during and after their sentences, by perpetuating a cycle of poverty, and by making all citizens complicit in the incarceration of their fellow human beings”(135). This statement about prisons emphasized the order many faced from a system that was different for the rich and the poor. Those who have money and white privilege gained easy access toward reduce sentences and freedom while many who did not have these benefits became lost in this system that continue to perpetuate.
In essence, the Jena Six had their sentence reduced. However, this is only one tiny victory toward the institutional system. As James Baldwin, an African American writer, noted ‘I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much than that. So are we all”(Briany Quote). All of us can do something about this situation where color-blind racism and hatred are still living among many and in the institution itself. With the support of the nation toward this injustice for the Jena Six, there is new generation wanting the intuition to take accountability for their faults in order for change to come. The youth and the older generations are tired of a system that is not working, as it should. For this reason, it is essential for all us to take notice of these events and take action to change the present and future.
Work Cited:
Flaherty, Jordan. Floodlines Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2010.
“James A. Baldwin Quotes.” Brainy Quote. 2011. 9 Dec 2011 < http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/james_a_baldwin.html >.
“ Jena 6 Get Involved.” Friends of Justice. 2007. 9 Dec 2011 < http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/jena-6-get-involved-page/ >.
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