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There are currently 9 responses to “Coverage of the Jena 6 Hearings by White Progressive Bloggosphere”

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1. 1 On October 18th, 2007, leslie said:

   You’re absolutely right. I am starting to believe the left is even more guilty than the right. At least the right makes no pretense at hiding its contempt and disregard, but the left proffers this false hand of friendship, only to withdraw the support when it’s most needed.

2. 2 On October 18th, 2007, cooper said:

   I saw the brief note at Talk Left.

   Talk Left has always been analytical and most of the posts there are based on law, so I did not expect to see much there.

   I do think a good part of the problem comes from the fact that there have been incidences where people, for instance the neighbors of Michael Bell who happen to be African Anerican, have made derisive statements about his character and history of criminal behavior and just his history in general. This makes the white blogesphere hesitant to use him as their poster child even though they know the charges were not justified they would prefer not to explain that despite his history blah blah blah the charges were unjustified. They prefer it to be easier like with someone with no past problems. They jumped on the Duke Lacrosse people as many did and they are now paying the price I think part of the price is being unwilling to take on anything that is not clear as glass.

3. 3 On October 18th, 2007, dsf said:

   “Maybe if we had more sympathetic defendants then there’d be a little interest from the white progressive world.”

   Nailed it! The Jena 6 violated one of white progressives’ most basic values: Violence is an improper response to hate.

   Sneakers are weapons when worn on the feet of college football aspirants. Aiming kicks at someone’s head is attempted murder (remember Martin Lee Anderson? whites do.). Bleeding from the eyes and the ears are symptoms of serious injuries even if the kid did go to his church that same evening. One kick to the temple could have killed him.

   Three months between a noose and a fight do not make a connection. A beer bottle broken over someone’s head would fracture a skull. Witnesses said Bailey and his friends robbed Matt Windham before he went to his truck for his shotgun. And, Bell would still be in jail if he had served time rather than probation for his four unrelated juvenile adjudications.

   Finally and moreover, no one has presented anything but the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence that differences in prosecutor’s handling of the Jena 6 and the whites may have been racially motivated. “Stroke of a pen”? Please. Adults have been using that line on high school students for generations.

   Simply stated, white progressives didn’t buy the pre-march canards. We read all the arguments forwarded and we were not convinced. After the Duke lacrosse debacle, we have a higher threshold before we jump to a conclusion.

   Yesterday was the hearing in congress. Have you read the transcript? Washington and Krigsten mopped the floor with Conyers and his panel. Did you read the part where Washington said that Jena residents (both black and white) do not believe they have a racial problem? What was the congressmen’s response? Oh, yes, they do, even if we have to use our federal powers to convince them. Now that’s scary!

   Tawana Brawley hoax. Duke lacrosse hoax. Jena 6 hoax. Palmdale hoax. All four lacked credibility in the beginning and all four went sour.

   Meanwhile, Megan Williams, Genarlow Wilson, and Martin Lee Anderson. Three indisputable cases of injustice. Three cases where whites have shown an interest in supporting. Three cases where the Al and Jesse Show could shine some positive light instead of their usual grandstanding. What do we get? Nada.

   Bottom line: Pick your battles. You can’t play deuce-seven and expect to profit. The news media is not a reliable messenger. You are combating for the attention and the time of busy white progressives, so the movement must be marketed like any other consumer product.

   An addendum: The word “hate” has lost its meaning. If there is any hate in the copycat nooses, it is the type of hate that Cowboys fans have for the Redskins.

4. 4 On October 18th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

   Cooper

   The Duke LaCrosse case was fishy from day one. Anyone who couldn’t see that needs to check their antenna. I didn’t say much about that for along time other than to address it early and then wait to see how it came down; but I didn’t need to do fill-in-the-gap coverage on that story since it got major mainstream coverage unlike a Jena 6 or Megan Williams. Likewise I didn’t post on the Michael Vick case much, and when I did only to respond to public reaction, not to talk about the case in particular as it was covered ad nauseam everywhere else in the universe.

   I can appreciate that some blogs are for certain things, but how is the Jena 6 situation not a legal issue? It specifically deals with equal protection under the law, due process, selective prosecution and enforcement, fairness in sentencing etc. All things these same type of folks are all over when it comes to the legal rights of foreign fighters in Guantanamo Bay or when they want a death sentence to be stayed, or when they want to advocate for the latest white women who drowned her kids because she was depressed or the devil made her do it.

   In particular, Tuesday’s hearing were hearings in the Judiciary Committee of the House, about the Department of Justice and about laws and enforcement.

   Nonetheless, I could respect a hesitance maybe if one, it wasn’t a blackout of even news coverage, not advocacy, but simple coverage; two, if these folks addressed this rather than ignoring it; and three, if many of them hadn’t already argued in favor of the charges against the Jena 6.

   The bottom line is, as long as there is this issue that’s huge to black community, most of whom general side with progressives; and the white progressive world isn’t going to deal with it; there’s going to be a big problem. Ignoring it isn’t helping; it isn’t going to go away. We’re not going to forget about Jena 6 and move on to something else next month. It’s already gotten too big and become too entrenched in our community.

   I don’t think many white people have any clue how much is going on out here based off the mobilization of September 20th.

5. 5 On October 18th, 2007, D. Yobachi Boswell said:

   Leslie, there are some others of good will, like Cooper here; but by in large we are in this fight against racial injustice alone.

   Condescending liberals, democrats, progressives, whatever; have been using us to forward their agenda for a long time because with most whites leaning conservative, they couldn’t win in Washington without us; but then they don’t much respond to our concerns. Throw us a bone to keep us around, and we go for it.

   If they’re not responding now, what happens when Latinos catch us in voting numbers, as they’ve already surpassed us in population. Talk about disregard when we’re no longer the number 2 constitutent.

6. 6 On October 18th, 2007, leslie said:

   I think cooper’s comment is charitable but not accurate. I think the failure of white progressives to address issues like that of the Jena 6 has more to do with white privilege, i.e., the privilege of having the option to remain unconscious of race and therefore not concern oneself with “Black” issues (unless they intersect with ponies already in the running, like universal healthcare). There’s an interesting discussion at Too Sense about this.
   halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/10/why-is-bob-herbert-boring-because-you.html

7. 7 On October 18th, 2007, dsf said:

   “Condescending liberals, democrats, progressives, whatever; have been using us to forward there agenda for a long time…”

   Absolutely and without doubt. The Republicans spurn minorities and labor unions, so the Democrats court such groups with “half-full or half-empty” promises. The most viable third party today is the Libertarians and they espouse what is essentially color-blind racism. Meanwhile, the extreme-left is still vulnerable to the Commie tag.

   Further, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats decide elections, the independents and the centrists do. Not only must minorities convince a candidate to pledge to their cause, but minorities must also convince the undecideds to vote for their candidate.

   I don’t have much of a solution, because I am not an expert in political campaigning. What I have been suggesting for many years now is that when activists get together for a cause, their first order of business should be to find a professional PR firm, preferably one that would work pro bono.

   Grassroots activism can only go so far. In the ’60s, marches were somewhat novel, but over the years, their impact has diminished because of their number and the evaporating influence of the news media to a consumerist society. Today, blogs dealing with social issues compete with each other and with such things as lolcats and the World of Warcraft (a community video game).

   To get any kind of attention now, a message must be focused, powerful, undeniable and broadcast repeatedly and without lapse over a multitude of different communications media (John Mellencamp’s song is a perfect example). The news media cannot be trusted with a story, because their format demands sound bites and video clips; they are better suited for OJ and TI. Issues stories take the backseat.

   Think how much more effective the Jena 6 organizers would have been had they teamed with a Nike or a Coke. Perhaps it’s time for a Racialpalooza.

8. 8 On October 18th, 2007, cooper said:

   I have no doubt that a lot of it has to do with privilege, which allows them the opportunity to pick their battles and they choose them selfishly, because come on progressives are not selfless - there is always an agenda. They would have used this agenda had they felt it would forward their cause but the reasons I posted are part of the reason they did not. Certainly not the whole reason. I have no solution. I work in refugee resettlement - this is certainly not my area. I wish I knew what to do.

   “Jena residents (both black and white) do not believe they have a racial problem” - kind of like the alcoholic saying he doesn’t think he has a drinking problem.

9. 9 On October 19th, 2007, Ehav Ever said:

   Their silence could be because the issue hasn’t been viewed by them as something that actually affects the world they live in. It is kind like when I was in high school a guy from the Nation of Islam came to meeting I was attended. He was trying to get support for the various Native Americans who were protesting sports teams who use negative and stereotypes of Native Americans as symbols. Most of the African American youth in the room initially didn’t show any interest in what he was saying. So he then stated, “What if a sports team decided to call themselves the Cleavland Darkies? How would you feel about that? This issue affects you whether you like or not or whether you like it or not. It is about justice simple and plain.”

   Maybe, the pitch to the average white person is for them to look at it from a perspective of things that they fear. Kind of like saying, what if the Taliban starting leaving pictures of beheaded Americans on your front door how you feel. The character of the Jena 6 means nothing when a real threat (i.e. racism that is connected to murder and social injustice) was present. Leaving a noose is a sign of the desire to murder and perpetuate social injustice. Maybe there needs to be some blogging about the history of lynching in America. Pictures, stories, and such would maybe bring the point home of WHY African Americans get angry about nooses showing up in places. A lot of White Americans don’t know much about it. Therefore MAYBE a noose doesn’t mean much to them. I once showed a Russian friend of mine the history of lynching African Americans in America, and he completely jumped on the boat. He said, “I never knew these kinds of things ever took place in America.”

   Just something to consider.

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