How far we've come...NOT!
Sep. 27th, 2007 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thatcrazycajunLet me, as old "Tricky Dick" Nixon used to say, make one thing perfectly clear: I am in no way, shape or form condoning what the so-called "Jena Six" are alleged to have done, nor am I condoning what the young Caucasian students earlier involved in the town's racial tensions did. I do, in fact, condemn both sets of actions strenuously.
But another thing I cannot and will not condone, and must likewise condemn, is unequal, biased treatment of any defendant, regardless of crime, by the criminal justice system of my country. The white boys got off with suspensions and slaps on the wrist; the black ones are being charged in heinous disproportion to the crimes with which they are charged. That is the reason the Jena Six are found by many to be comparable to the Little Rock Nine, the 50th anniversary of whose integration of Little Rock, AR's Central High School was observed this week. Both groups were victims of racially-based discrimination; one may be less innocent and noble than the other, but neither deserves to be treated differently than whites on the basis of their not being white.
This cartoon by Tim Jackson says it better than I ever could:
But another thing I cannot and will not condone, and must likewise condemn, is unequal, biased treatment of any defendant, regardless of crime, by the criminal justice system of my country. The white boys got off with suspensions and slaps on the wrist; the black ones are being charged in heinous disproportion to the crimes with which they are charged. That is the reason the Jena Six are found by many to be comparable to the Little Rock Nine, the 50th anniversary of whose integration of Little Rock, AR's Central High School was observed this week. Both groups were victims of racially-based discrimination; one may be less innocent and noble than the other, but neither deserves to be treated differently than whites on the basis of their not being white.
This cartoon by Tim Jackson says it better than I ever could:
Tim Jackson Chicago Defender, Madison … Sep 27, 2007 |
