[PAA-Discuss] FW: Jena: The Next Step

[Lee Loe]

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From: moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG [mailto:moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG] 
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 7:31 PM
To: PORTSIDE at LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG
Subject: Jena: The Next Step

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/gary_younge/2007/09/jena_the_next_steps.
html
The Guardian (UK)
September 21, 2007

Jena: the next step

Yesterday's demonstration in support of the Jena Six was a great success.
But two key goals are yet to be achieved.

By Gary Younge

Yesterday's demonstration in Jena was a great success on many fronts, but
still has two important goals to achieve.

First the successes. It brought the argument to the people who needed to
hear it. I'm sure it convinced very few white people in Jena that hanging
nooses is more than a prank or that the judicial system is weighted against
African-Americans. From most of the quotes I've seen they are still in
denial. But I'm equally sure that it made any administrator, legislator,
judge or attorney there realise that much of the world does not share their
standards. This message reverberates beyond Jena. The notion that what
happens in small towns stays in small towns no longer holds. No local
official wants a "Jena" on their hands.

Second, it was huge and managed to galvanise a new generation of activists.
One of the noteworthy aspects of this demonstration - in contrast to many -
is that it appears to have been multi-generational. With nooses and jail
time the issues it raised linked the old Jim Crow and new quite effectively.

Third, it revealed a new network of bloggers and radio hosts (similar to the
immigrant rallies) that can kept this issue alive when others would have
allowed it to die or could not keep it going.

Fourth, it was peaceful. Nothing would have been gained by violence in Jena.
The fact that none occurred left locals who had shuttered up the town, in
fear of black hordes arriving to ransack the place, with nothing to talk
about but the issues.

Now the hard part. The Jena Six remain either in jail or awaiting trial. The
demonstration did a great job of highlighting their plight. The judicial
system knows the world is watching. Now it is down to the lawyers to get
them a fair shake. That means a proportionate punishment for the alleged
crime.

And last but by no means least the activists must leverage the attention
that has been given to the Jena
6 to raise the broader issues of social justice and racism in the penal and
judicial systems in the US. In its details what took place in Jena is very
particular to this small town. In its substance - overbearing prosecutors,
disproportionate sentencing and racial inequality - it is not aberrant but
consistent with the what is taking place elsewhere in the US.

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