Thursday, September 20, 2007

Fight the Power







Hey everyone my people made me soooo proud this morning. We went down to Jena and let them know we are not having it. Y’all know black people don’t play about their babies. But on a serious note, it’s time that we start holding on to our kids and let them know that simple mistakes can cost them their lives. I for one am tired of seeing so many black men go to jail, leaving behind broken families. Rallying for justice is great, but we must work to keep our children out of the justice system period! Even in my own family I have lost people to jail and to death due to poor choices and stupid mistakes. I would love to see the day when there are more black men in college than in jail, the day when marriage is a standard in the black community or when more black men become head of the house. This rally in Jena says that we as a community are tired, tired of the same ole, same ole, sitting in courts watching the judge sentence our boys with inadequate representation, or burying our kids way too young.

As I watched the thousands of black people match and chant “black power” I was so proud. I am sure that the Jena 6 thanked God that so many cared enough to protest on their behalf. However, the white people in the town still did not get it. CNN interviewed several white people in the town and they all claimed there was no racism in their town. Many said that it was outside people painting a distorted view of their town. It angered me that these people did not see the injustice in their judicial system. Now, don’t get me wrong I do believe that the boys should be punished for the fight, but the punishment should fit the crime.
I was amazed that so many people went to the area where the “white tree” once existed just to feel the dirt and show solidarity. I was a bit upset that CNN was the only major news show documenting this monumental moment in history. I kept flipping from CNN to Today to Good Morning America, to the Early Show and only CNN kept talking about the rally in Jena. It seemed that every other channel was consumed with O.J. and the Goldman/Brown family. It was if they were saying this is not even news worthy or putting up the middle finger to Black America. But that is okay because we are not doing this for media coverage we are sending a message that enough is enough. I have a correspondent in Jena and she will be updating me momentarily and I will update the post as more information beco

No comments: