Jena: Send in the Adults

Just when I think that black Americans are beginning to stop making excuses for the knuckleheads in our number, the Jena Six controversy sparks an old school protest rally.

Instapunk—who was kind enough to give me a different kind of Instalanche--has an excellent summation of the Jena Six controversy and how it relates to Jesse Jackson’s alleged comment that 2008 presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has reacted to it in a, shall we say, an insufficiently melanin-infused manner.

This is no Rosa Parks moment.

No; in spite of the way in which Jackson and that other perennially-outraged media whore, Al Sharpton, have been rather successful at portraying events—with the assistance of Big Media, who correctly dubbed yesterday’s protest in Jena as reminiscent of the 50’s and 60s. Yes, correctly. The protests did indeed recall that time. The comparative moral authority between the cause of 45-50 years ago and that of the Jena Six, however, marks the place where the analogies fall flat.

As Instapunk says, we’re getting at microscopic view into a throwback type of culture that apparently and unfortunately still exists in the town of Jena, LA (pop. 4000); a town that is 85% white. It’s not merely the racial nature of the incidents which conjures the South of a generation and a half ago, but the behavior of the white educational and legal authorities. But, the controversy has a decidedly contemporary flavor to it as well. In this episode of racialist misbehavior, both the black and white students are guilty of stirring up animosities, street-gang style, something which was not a factor in the last days of power for the Old South. And, there are these factors on the black side of the equation. Jason Whitlock:

No one mentions that Mychal Bell's [a juvenile at time of the incident in which six black students beat up a lone white student, he’s the second youngest member of the Jena Six] clueless public defender [who called no witnesses in his defense] was black. No one mentions that there were no black jurors because of the 50 people who responded to the more than 100 summons, none were black. No one mentions that Bell was already on probation for battery relating to a Christmas day incident in 2005. No one mentions that Bell was adjudicated (convicted) of two other violent crimes in 2006 and one charge of criminal damage to property. No one mentions that Bell's father acknowledged he moved back to Louisiana in February (after seven years in Dallas) to supervise his son because of the "Jena Six" mess. No one mentions that Bell starred on the Jena High football team while constantly jeopardizing/violating his seemingly flimsy probation.

Bell was tried as an adult and convicted of aggravated attempted second degree murder battery (along with five others), though, on a previous occasion, an equivalent number of white students had done something similar to a black student with no recriminations. All of this had been sparked by a verbal p*ssing contest between the black and white students of Jena High School. Other racialist incidents leading up to the final one had occurred both on campus and off.

In short, a schoolyard beef with racial overtones spilled over onto the town and, instead of the adults (the white school officials, the white legal authorities, the black could-have-been jurors and the black and white parents) smothering it in its infancy by coming down hard on all of the juveniles, said adults abdicated their duties.

We have all of the emotional responses of children represented here: the school board overruling the expulsion of the white students who drew first blood by displaying nooses to intimidate the black students; Jena's white district attorney threatening to "end lives with a stroke of a pen"; the white parental failure to explain what nooses mean with respect to recent history; the black parents (Bell's) failing to have any input into the lives of their children or to reign in the wayward among them; the black citizens failing to live up to their civic responsibilities, and who, as a result of their own failure, became angry when they had no voice in the fate of the Jena six; and that same DA asserting that a shoe is a deadly weapon in order to (unsuccessfully) push the attempted murder charge.

As yet, no individual/group of individuals from that town has stepped up to be the grown-up in this mess, with the possibly exception of Bell's father, albeit belatedly.

And into this bubbling cauldron of trifling adults step Jackson and Sharpton to stir more feces--inciting others to screech in assent; asserting rights while ignoring responsibilities.

Jackson, never one to bypass an opportunity for demagoguery, uses the flap to take a shot at Barack Obama—who’s real crime in Jackson’s eyes is that he has a more serious chance at becoming POTUS than Jackson ever did in his two runs for the office. (Obama’s other “crime” is that he is half-white.)

Jackson sharply criticized presidential hopeful and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for “acting like he’s white” in what Jackson said has been a tepid response to six black juveniles’ arrest on attempted-murder charges in Jena, La. Jackson, who also lives in Illinois, endorsed Obama in March, according to The Associated Press.

“If I were a candidate, I’d be all over Jena,” Jackson said after an hour-long speech at Columbia’s [SC] historically black Benedict College. [SNIP]

Later, Jackson said he did not recall making the “acting like he’s white” comment about Obama, stressing he only wanted to point out the candidates had not seized on an opportunity to highlight the disproportionate criminal punishments black youths too often face.

(Interestingly enough, Jackson’s son, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. [D-IL]) is Obama’s national campaign chairman who, according to Obama, helped to craft the senator’s response to Jena. Tasty.)

Instapunk:

If Obama takes the bait being dangled before him by Sharpton and Jackson and charges into the fray like an outraged civil rights leader of old, he will cease to be what he has seemed thus far too many middle-of-the-road voters, a presidential candidate who is an American first and a black man second. This would be a fatal shift in perception. It's not that Americans can't understand the rationale for black first, American second. They can and most likely do. It's that they probably won't elect a President of the United States who puts 13 percent of the population above the other 87 percent in his priorities.

On the other hand, if Obama tries to distance himself from the most extreme rhetoric of the Sharptons et al, he will risk losing the reflexive black vote that constitutes the most monolithically reliable bloc of the Democrat Party. The "not black enough" charge has always been out there waiting, whether or not Jesse Jackson actually voiced it in so many words. What Obama can't overcome without the active support of traditional African-American leadership is that he is not really an African-American. He is, by accident of birth, half-African, and first-generation at that.

Though I think that the African/African-American [sic] "controversy" is of the ginned-up variety, my kinsman finds himself between the rock and the hard place, indeed. That’s not my concern, however, since I’ve never intended to vote for him. What is of concern is how the victim culture remains alive and well among too many black Americans, rumors of its death with regard to OJ’s recent self-inflicted tribulations notwithstanding. What is of concern is how the legal system remains weighed against those with less power or money. And what is of concern is how those of lesser power refuse to do the lower-profile, more labor-intensive work of wielding what actual power they do possess—in their own families and in their communities--but when the national media come calling, they’re ready for their close-up. As for Jesse, he's just being himself.

There are no Good Guys among Jena's wayward citizens. And neither Obama nor Jesse will make a dent in this state of affairs. They haven't the power.

(Thanks to Hot Air)

UPDATE: Bell, whose conviction was thrown out, has been denied bail because of his prior record.

[Louisiana 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P.] Mauffray had cited Bell's criminal record, which included juvenile arrests for battery and damage to property, in setting the bail.

Comments

[DarkStar]

SIGH....

Jason Whitlock got it wrong:

No one mentions that Mychal Bell's [a juvenile at time of the incident in which six black students beat up a lone white student, he’s the second youngest member of the Jena Six] clueless public defender [who called no witnesses in his defense] was black.

Al Sharpton, Michael Baisden, Tom Joyner, and others have mentioned the clueless public defender and that the PD was Black.

Bells priors have also been mentioned.

No one mentions that Bell's father acknowledged he moved back to Louisiana in February (after seven years in Dallas) to supervise his son because of the "Jena Six" mess.

Tom Joyner not only mentioned it but interviewed Bell's father.

But those facts shouldn't stand in the way. Neither should the fact that Sharpton and Jackson were very late and that it was bloggers, broadcast email, and radio that did more to get things going than those two. Sharpton has been saying so in radio interviews over the past few days. Sharpton has actually given credit to Baisden.

In short, a schoolyard beef with racial overtones spilled over onto the town and, instead of the adults (the white school officials, the white legal authorities, the black could-have-been jurors and the black and white parents) smothering it in its infancy by coming down hard on all of the juveniles, said adults abdicated their duties.

So let me understand. After the noose incident, Black parents got together, went to the school to complain, and the school or school board blew them off, but they are to blame?

I got into many fights when I was younger, and my parents didn't find out about them or found out afterwards. I bet that's typical.

The comments about Jackson, Sr. and Obama are on point.

[baldilocks]

So let me understand. After the noose incident, Black parents got together, went to the school to complain, and the school or school board blew them off, but they are to blame?

Yes. The board is to blame.

[DarkStar]

No, you stated the Black parents didn't act like adults, but when they tried to follow the rules, the board didn't do its job.

That's one failure point.

If you go to the Tom Joyner web site and listen to Al Sharpton's commentary on Wednesday, you will hear him say that the Jena 6 should be punished because the violence was wrong. But because the media hates him and loves his quotes, they pick and choose what he states. But what he said on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, isn't making news.

[DarkStar]

Bell isn't an angel, but does that mean the other 5 should rot?

Jason Whitlock is flat out wrong.

[baldilocks]

No. I. Didn't.

I said that the black parents who "fail to have any input into the lives of their children or to reign in the wayward among them," are the problem, i.e. Bell's parents. I didn't mention the parents you specify at all because I didn't know about them until after I put up the post and started reading this site.

And, actually they should all pay the price for being little thuglets. The white kids too. And that's the problem of course. (I did mention this.) Please stop jerking your knee.

[baldilocks]

:sigh: I can see why what I said was confusing. I will tweak it.

[JoeP]

Excellently stated, Baldilocks.

[baldilocks]

Thanks, but you might not think so on that *other* topic.

[Walter E. Wallis]

six against one is never justified. Putting the boot to a downed opponent is never justified.
There was no white uprising after the Bird killing trial and verdict. Justice can be a bitch, but if Jesse wants to replace justice with mobs, he needs to check the census first.

[Tully]

The actual events are STILL not being fully and correctly reported in the MSM. Things are more complicated than they appear. I still haven't found any good guys. I'm still glad I don't live in Jena, and I feel sorry for most of those who do and have to put up with the media/activist onslaught from all directions.

Michael van der Gallienne has an excellent post on some of the unreported details. One that digs down past much of the knee-jerkery and corrects some of the ongoing factual errors in the coverage.

[baldilocks]

Tully,

There's a post in the hopper.

[PRCalDude]

B. Hussein Obama represents the last possibility of a black man being POTUS. Though a radical liberal, he's done a fabulous job fooling rich upper class whites like my in-laws into believing he's some kind of messiah. The MSM has been quite a help in this as well, though.

Once Mexicans come into their own demographically in this country, the chance Obama had will be gone forever. Mexicans and Central Americans don't like (usually hate) blacks and will wrest all of the political power out of their hands, as has happened in most of Los Angeles. Indeed, the country will likely return to a form of Jim Crowism that Mexico has and that the U.S. had in the 60s.

I hope Obama gives it his best shot and doesn't wade into this moronic convergence. He seems to have gotten most of what he has on merit, at least.

Good essay.

[DarkStar]

From that link:

- The speech given by Reed Walters that included the now infamous statement “I can end your life with the stroke of a pen” was not given to a group of black students. It was given during a speech to the entire student body in an assembly called by the school’s principal to calm a community that was pulling their children out of school because there were two fights one day with racial overtones.

Sorry, but people have been saying it was an address to all students. But they have been saying that the "stroke of the pen" comment was made to the Black people at the address. It's been said he pointed or turned towards them.

Many do agree that the charges seem wrong, but they also know the criminal history of the boys referred to as the “Jena Six.”

So far, only Bell's past has been put out there. If all have a criminal history, why haven't their's been put out there?

Lastly, you can even go to the Tom Joyner website in the "In Case You Missed It" section to check Sharpton's comments. He, and others, are saying they should get time but that the charges seem overblown.

[Tully]

He, and others, are saying they should get time but that the charges seem overblown.

As have I, DarkStar. The facts I have seen suggest simple assault and battery as being appropriate, with sentence enhancement for any with prior convictions for violent crimes. Which,a s far as I know, would just be Mychal Bell.

What I've seen does suggest that the students of both races at that school did a bang-up job of proving that people determined to not get along, don't. And that a minority of idiots bent on promoting hate can bring ruin down on an entire community.

I still haven't found any good guys.

[DarkStar]

Neither have I found any good guys in this, but people raining down disgust on Sharpton and Jackson, Sr., are just as ill informed.

IMO, they are excuse making. Sharpton and Jackson have little to no power in the Black community and I think many conservatives know it.

[Wrymouth]

So -- who chose Jena to be the bait-ball for the MSM, and why? Is it so we sofisteecates outside the Deep South can point our fingers and say that Racism is alive and well *there* amongst the goobers and hicks? What -- nothing like this happens in the Glorious Kingdom of New York, or L.A., or Philly, or Chicago?

As much as I like touch-points for larger discussions, I am made uncomfortable when we anoint actual flesh-and-blood people, or in this case, whole communities, as Talking Points for "the rest of us."

I'm going to look around my home county for similar incidents and reactions. I wonder if I'll find any in an area of 300,000+ people.

And -- I guess -- I will thank my lucky stars that Jena seems to be news because the MSM has a hard time finding such incidences to blow up out of all proportion.