So there are two news stories I've kept aware of lately, because they both center around racism, particularly, that is, racial prejudice in the service of power.
The most egregious story is that of the so-called Jena 6, a half dozen young black men facing decades in prison for beating the snot out of a white classmate after weeks of racial antagonisms in the backwards hamlet of Jena, Louisiana. You can get the full story elsewhere, but suffice it to say that there are two narratives of the events in Jena; one told by whites, and the other is what really happened, told mostly by blacks. According to most whites in that town, there are no racial problems in Jena. According to American history, there are racial problems everywhere in the US, no matter how much progress has been made since it was o.k. for whites to own blacks. I have to admit I'm no longer outraged when white people say they have no problems with blacks; it's kind of like hearing Dick Cheney talk about supporting "freedom and democracy in Iraq." Bullshit by any other name still smells the same.
Sentencing for Mychal Bells, the first of the six students convicted for aggregated second degree battery and conspiracy to commit second degree battery, is scheduled for the 20th of September. The other five have not been tried yet, and whether or not their charges will be reduced has yet to be seen.
The charges against Bells were reduced from attempted murder, which is what the boys were arrested for; according to the prosecutor the boy's shoes count as "dangerous weapons." Bells faces up to 22 years in prison for the assault, for which he was tried as an adult.
Closer to home, in St. John the Baptist Parish, "leaders" are cracking down (pun intended) on the youthful fashion faux-pas of baggy pants. One Councilman has penned an ordinance outlawing droopy drawers, with offenders being fined and and corralled into community service. In July, the visionaries of LaFourche Parish signed into law an ordinance against the menace of exposed boxer shorts, a law that St. John took inspiration from.
Of course, this is a symbolic attack against hip-hop culture in general, and against young blacks in particular. The prosecution of the Jena 6 also reflects racism, of course, but Jena officials won't hear of it.
Maybe no one reading this will remember the old shopworn phrases that whites used to use when describing their black neighbors, phrases like (apologies to the sensitive) "our nigras are as happy as can be" or "we never had any racial problems here before," two whoppers of lies that whites have used for decades if not centuries to downplay racial tensions and ignore long-standing patterns of discrimination and disparity that all of our communities have inherited. We whites can't be fully blamed for the legacies of prejudice we live under, but we can be blamed for continuing to ignore that which our black neighbors have taken pains to point out to us.
And our "leaders" can be blamed for unequal treatment of some of our citizens under the law -- like the Jena 6, who committed a crime but stand to face punishment completely out of line with the offense, and like the baggy-pants wearers of some parts of the state, who now face punishment because their pants hang low.
You might not agree with me on all this, but if you're white, and you can't at least try to see how these absurd situations appear to blacks (not to mention affect some people's lives), then you just might be part of the problem.
1. Re: The "Jena Six":
You say that the Jena Six "committed a crime but stand to face punishment completely out of line with the offense." However, they aren't facing any greater punishment than the law provides. If you join together with others to organize a beat down, you can expect to face charges of aggravated second-degree battery.
Moreover, Mychal Bell's criminal record contains four other violence offenses, which rightly weighed against leniency in sentencing.
Re: The "baggy pants" ordinance:
It's well known that wearing one's pants originated as an emulation of convicts. When you're sent to prison, they take away your belt because it could be used as a weapon or to commit suicide. Some black youths started doing the same, either because they were gangsters themselves, or as an homage to the ganster lifestyle.
In any case, wearing one's pants in this gang-inspired fashion clearly isn't positive, and deploring the practice isn't anti-black; it's anti-GANG. That sad truth is that gang violence in this state is rampant in the black population, but that doesn't mean everything directed at gang culture is really directed at black culture.
In fact, many black politicians are equally upset. It might surprise you to know that a similar ordinance is being considered in Atlanta, and it is being co-sponsored by four black city councilpersons. Are they racist too, or are they just concerned about gang culture and its destructive influence on the black community? I'll let you ponder that one.
Posted at 11:01PM on Aug 26th 2007 by Owen Courrèges