Update for September 28: A commenter pointed out that Jeana is in Louisiana and not Mississippi. That’s my bad, and I accept full responsibility for the goof. I should have done my fact checking, but I’ve been working a lot of hours at the 9 to 5 the past few weeks. I’m tired, running on empty, and stressed. I messed up. I would correct and edit this post, but on second thoughts, I’ll leave it as is. I’m not going to erase my mistake. It’s a reminder for me that I need to be more careful about the things I post and say in the future. Just realize I’m a human. This blog is not my day job; it’s a hobby. I’m in no way a reporter or professional blogger nor is it my aim to be. I do this to express myself…nothing more, nothing less. I hope I bring some thoughtful commentary about topics of interest and that you enjoy what I write when I’m on top of my game. Obviously this time around with this post, I was not. I can make mistakes, and I did make a mistake. I’ll own up to that fact because that’s the kind of person that I am. Thank you for being understanding.

- The WriteTilt Blogger-

The story about the Jeana 6 has been on my mind all week. I’ve debated whether or not I should post on this hot button topic and finally decided to share my thoughts on this.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the Jeana 6 is a group of six African-American teens who were charged with beating a white male student at a high school in the small town of Jeana, Mississippi. This schoolyard fight had a preceding incident in which black students sat underneath an unofficial “whites only” tree on campus. Some white students retaliated by hanging nooses around the branch of the “whites only” tree on school grounds. Racial tensions bubbled over, resulting in a schoolyard fight involving the Jeana 6 and a white student. The Jeana 6 case has also led to a fight for civil rights and revealed a town that’s in denial about racial discrimination and prejudice.

I am very familiar with racial discrimination and prejudice, especially in the South. I grew up in a small town, which is known in my state as the last “recorded” lynching of a black man prior to the 1950s. When I was in high school, I attended freshman year at my small town’s high school where racial tensions were uneasy. There had been several race riots between the black students and the white students prior to my attending, and tensions were still high between the two groups of students. Fortunately, nothing “major” happened during my first and last year of school there; however, there had been a couple of fights between black and white students. Back in my day, those students got suspended and/or expelled if the fight was bad enough. Those types of cases never went to juvenile or adult court. In my former town’s eyes, they were just schoolyard fights that the school handled. Obviously, the Jeana 6 is very different.

I see no reason for the Jeana 6 case to have gone as far as it has. It makes no sense that these teens were charged as adults for a school fight. Yes, it has racial roots as far as the fight goes, but to charge them as adults is ridiculous. If charges were going to be pressed, then this case should have been handled in the juvenile court system. And if the Jeana 6 were going to be charged, then the white students who hung the nooses on the “whites only” tree should be charged as well. The prosecution is denying that this case is about racial prejudice, but that’s not the way I or thousands of others see things. The entire grounds for what led up to the Jeana 6 case has deep racial roots, and the fact that some people are blind to equal justice is not surprising to me. There are people in this world who want to believe that racism does not exist anymore because people and organizations like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X (after he went to Mecca and gained clarity on race), SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee), CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), and the NAACP fought on issues of civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s. Those people need to wake up! Just because whites and blacks are “integrated” and people aren’t getting bitten by police dogs and hosed down in the streets while marching for equality, it does not mean that we’re one big happy society who no longer sees race and prejudice. Ask a black man who has to deal with DWB (driving while black) in a white neighborhood. Ask a black woman who is stereotyped as “hoochies” and “ghetto hood rats” because of misogynistic language and music characterized in rap/hip-hop music videos. Ask Muslims in America who are looked at as terrorists because they practice Islam like the 9/11 terrorists did. Ask Indians who are called “towel heads” by people (and worse) and railed at for “taking American tech jobs” because they came to America for opportunities. Ask a member of the Latin community who are scoffed at because they dare to discuss and march for border/immigration issues. Bottom line, while things are better, we have not overcome like Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted in his powerful “I Have a Dream” speech, and the Jeana 6 case proves that.

I am an advocate for civil rights…for all people. That includes people of any color, race, sexual orientation, and religion. Civil rights in America is something everyone should have, and Jeana 6 teen Mychael Bell has been denied his civil rights by being held in jail, despite having his conviction thrown out. Should he and the Jeana 6 be punished for the school fight? Yes…along with the students responsible for hanging the nooses. However, I definitely think prison is taking things way too far and another example of Southern justice being used without involving the Ku Klux Klan type of justice - draggings in the street behind a truck and lynches.

In closing, I want to say that I’m not judging all of the people of Mississippi, but I’ve been there and seen with my own eyes how things can be. In college, I was going with a friend of mine, who happens to be bi-racial (half black and half white), to New Orleans for a fun-filled weekend. We made a stop at a gas station off the Interstate in Mississippi to fill up at a small, “run through” town. I quickly noticed the stares whites and blacks were giving us as my friend pumped gas and I sat in the car. The black citizens were looking at us as if we were strange and that we should not be together, and the white citizens eyed my friend with a look of foreboding and doom. After paying for gas, my friend turned to me and told me, “Let’s hurry up and get out of here before they lynch us.” Of course, my friend was teasing but at the same time was somewhat serious and quickly sped out of the state of Mississippi. Years later, another family friend noticed the 1960’s style racial prejudice in Mississippi while working there to assist Katrina victims as a member of her state’s Emergency Management team (not FEMA). She noticed how a white citizen tried to implement the old policy of “whites only” restroom practices at a State (of Mississippi) facility by telling her she had to use a different restroom because it was to be used by “other” people. This family friend was highly offended because she was there to help all the people of Mississippi after the terror that was Hurricane Katrina and was told she couldn’t use a specific restroom. Of course, she, along with black and white co-workers, went ahead and used that bathroom anyway. In addition to that incident, she received reports that black citizens in Mississippi were being denied water and food by a white city manager in a nearby small town. Her team promptly responded by telling the city manager that the supplies he was hording up and keeping from black citizens were not Mississippi’s supplies but the federal government’s. The city manager was warned that if he didn’t release the supplies to all of his city’s citizens, then he would be reported to the federal government. The city manager responded by releasing the supplies but am sure he wasn’t thrilled about it since an Emergency Management official (who happened to be a black man) was dispatched to his city to make sure everyone received aid. Based on my own and friends’ experiences in Mississippi, it’s not surprising that the Jeana 6 case is a stark reminder that integrated doesn’t mean equality and civil rights for all.

If you believe in fairness and equality for all, then show your support. This isn’t just a “black or white” thing. This is a civil rights thing.

• Sign the petition to the Justice Department
• Sign the NAACP’s petition to the Mississippi Governor

[A special "hat tip" to Clay Clane, who inspired me to write about this...especially since the image in his post is one I've seen before; it happened in my state.]

Posted on Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 at 1:21 pm in the category:Commentary, In the News, Life. Comment RSS 2.0 feed. Comment it , or trackback this post.