How Far We’ve Come

It’s interesting living in a metropolitan area of a progressive state, especially with the 2008 presidential elections presenting the possibility of either a female or African American nominee. Since the outset of the initial fundraising efforts I’ve taken for granted that US citizens would be ready to vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Putting political parties aside, I’ve assumed that we’ve moved forward as a society to a point where we would look past gender or race to fairly assess the qualifications and leadership abilities of a candidate (again, not necessarily endorsing either one).

But I’d like to take you all to a place called Jena, Louisiana. This town of 3,000, located in the middle of the state, has a long and violent history of racial tension and segregation which has only risen in intensity over the last year following a string of racially motivated crimes.

It all started with a tree.

At Jena High School black and white students don’t associate with each other. While socializing at school, the white students gather under a big shade tree in the courtyard, the black students by the auditorium.

Or so it was, until last year, when an impetuous African American freshman challenged this status quo just a few days into the first semester by asking the principal at a school-wide assembly if he, too, could sit under the tree, and was told that he had the right to sit anywhere he wished.

Members of Jena High’s rodeo team didn’t see it that way, and the next morning three nooses hung from the tree. Many wanted the perpetrators arrested, expelled. Technically this was a terroristic threat and would qualify as a hate crime. Officials decided it was a prank and the “jokesters” received in-school suspension.

A group of African American athletes organized a silent protest, defiantly gathering under the tree until a school assembly was called. The police and the district attorney were brought in. DA Reed Walters warned students that he “could be their friend or worst enemy.” “With one stroke of my pen,” he reportedly said “I can make your life disappear.”

African American students felt he was speaking directly to them (a point of debate amongst those in attendance). White students felt triumphant, black students resentful.

On November 30 somebody started Jena High on fire. Everyone was pointing fingers. Fights began to erupt throughout the city. 16-year-old African American Robert Bailey was jumped at a mostly white party. The next day, at a local convenience store, Bailey exchanged heated words with a white classmate who had been at the party. The white student went to his truck and pulled out a shotgun. Bailey and his friends wrestled the weapon away from him and brought it home. They were charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student wasn’t charged (inarguably absurd).

The following Monday, white student Justin Barker was spreading the word at school that Bailey had been “whipped by a white man.” When he walked outside, into the courtyard, he was jumped and beaten by a group of black students.

Barker’s injuries were minor. He was examined by doctors and released, going on to attend a social function that very night.

But six African American students were arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder. The first to go to trial was Mychal Bell. He’s facing 22 years in prison. The rest are awaiting trial.

I don’t condone violence or retaliation. The six African American Jena High students were absolutely wrong to beat Justin Barker and they need to be held accountable for their actions (I think the attempted second-degree murder charge is pretty extreme, however). But so do the white students who jumped Robert Bailey and the white student who pulled a gun on him. So do the white students who hung the nooses, painfully reminding a southern town of its still visible scars; marks left by years of hatred and fear.

Living in the north, it’s easy to forget that places like Jena exist; that there are still towns where deep racial divides permeate the culture and rot any hope for reconciliation or mutual respect before they ever have an opportunity to take root.

Maybe the US isn’t as progressive as I thought (or hoped).

Thanks for reading.

Zizzle-Zot will be in Disney World for the next few days. He’ll be back on Tuesday. Until then…