FREE THE JENA 6

http://www.cosellout.com/?p=121

READ IT AND WEEP.
No, no racism here. Not in America, not today. We're too enlightened. BS.

And it boggles my mind that people will try to spin this as a story that can't possibly be about racism, it's about inequity within the justice system. Which relates to race.

Let's see if I'm getting it straight.

There's a tree on PUBLIC PROPERTY that is known as a "white" tree because historically only white people congregated there. ON PUBLIC PROPERTY?

Black kids felt they had to ask for permission to sit under the tree.

And when they did, the next day, there were nooses hung from the tree.

And the kid(s) who put the nooses under the tree said he did it as a joke, a prank? And he was surprised that it was taken so far. Cajuns have a rather unique sense of humor, I could see right away that this would not be taken as a joke by black folks and I suspect the kid and his parents understood as well. They didn't think it would get the attention that it did.

Racism is like that, it doesn't thrive well under the light of day.

This kid SHOULD have been beaten with a shoe. Although maybe not quite to unconsciousness, but beaten enough to knock the stupid out of him. This beating perhaps makes up for some of the proper child-rearing he wasn't getting in the past.

But it's not about racism? This article does a good job of framing the concept of white denial.

TIM WISE: WHAT KIND OF CARD IS RACE?
http://www.counterpunch.org/wise04242006.html

Every generation has said, nope, no problem with racism here. Why can't those people just shut up and get along? And although, yes progress has been made over the years, when you look closely, there are still some pretty ugly incidents that remind us that this is a cancer that is not entirely in remission. And like some cancers, it has the potential to come back.

I would think if some who don't see racism here could walk for a DAY in the black victims shoes, they would take that shoe and beat the tar out of somebody with it. If they had to suffer the same indignity, FOR ONE DAY. Never mind everyday. 24-7-365.

I would say if he beat the correct kid, I have virtually no problem with it. The kid who got beaten in error allegedly went to a party later that night. So aggravated assault? And a shoe as a deadly weapon? C'mon.

A deadly weapon is a gun, a knife a machete. A shoe is footwear, if someone comes at me with a shoe, other than my Mom, I'm probably going to have a hard time not laughing at them.

That's where the unequal justice comes in, but the whole incident stems from a hateful, racist act. If that doesn't happen, none of the other stuff does.

Seems like Jena hasn't progressed very far from the Rosa Parks era. Maybe some there need considerably more than a shoe to smack the backwardness out of them.