What’s going on here? In Wednesday’s edition of the New York Times, an article titled “In Louisiana, a Tree, a Fight and a Question of Justice”, covers a racial controversy being called the Jena 6. It all started with a tree, then a racial act, then a protest, and finally a fight. Now we have six high school kids charged with attempted murder, one of them who was put in jail while awaiting his trial. All of this has exploded into a national issue and is sweeping over college campuses and justice organizations. The article goes on to explain what’s being done about the whole situation and its affect on the town of Jena. What caught my attention was an argument between the parents of the accused and Rev. P.A. Paul who, by the way, is white. He has the nerve to tell those parents that what the white students did, hanging up nooses on the tree, is just “kid’s play.” What???!!!
As much as I’d like this world to be all happy and dandy, that’s just not reality. He later goes on to say that as a child he hung nooses around his neck (for fun…I guess). I don’t know about his mom, but if I knew my kid was hanging nooses around his/her neck, I’d be the one hanging him/her off a tree for even thinking about playing with that stuff. I thought Ms. Jones, mother of Carwin Jones (one of the accused), was absolutely hilarious. She told him, “Well, you didn’t pull it tight enough.” HAHA!!!
Those kids are in high school, and most likely well aware of what is considered racist and what isn’t. I highly doubt that the white student had no idea that calling a black student the ‘n-word’ would be offensive. He definitely knew what he was doing. He meant to hurt him. I’m not defending anyone. I just believe in justice, and what’s being done to these kids is not just.
Back to the kid’s play. Hate crimes are not unusual to teens now. According to SafeYouth.org, “almost two-thirds of reported attacks are committed by individuals under the age of 24,” where “young white males commit most of them.” Just because they’re ‘kids’ doesn’t mean that they’re not capable of committing a racist act. They’re old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, or at least they should. In regards to the hanging of the nooses, the act was dismissed. Nothing much was done to punish those who did it. However, interestingly enough, the University of Maryland experienced a similar display of racism. Recently, a noose was hung on a tree just outside of a cultural center. This case, however, is being seen differently. In an article by ABC News on September 10, Paul Dillon of the university police stated, “We will treat this like any other serious crime on campus.” Whether it’s a hate crime or not, it’s still a crime.
So once again, Reverend, what were you thinking???
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5 comments:
Josie- You obviously have a passion for this situation and it comes through in you response! Too me the best part of your blog was the passion and intensity of it. You really care about what you’re writing; you can feel the attachment you have. And I can also relate to the frustration you are feeling. While I never got involved in this particular case, justice, especially racial justice has always been an issue close to my heart. Oh, and that Reverend is ridiculous. What a bad spokesperson for Christianity.
You do a great job injecting humor into a serious topic. You really can hear your voice coming through your writing, especially your obvious passion for this subject. My only suggestion is just that sometimes using multiple punctuation marks can look almost...sloppy. I understand what you are going for by doing that, and I really like the casual (but not cavalier) feel it gives to your blog.
First of all, I think you did a great job in communicating your passion for this subject. I blogged on this article as well, so it was nice to read another's perspective on it. :)
You are definitely a deliberate writer. It was very easy to understand your thoughts and feelings on the matter. I especially appreciate the point you made about how even though the students were 'only in high school,' they still knew what racism was--and what is right from wrong. This is an excellent point and one that should be taken to heart.
If I could make any suggestions for improvement, I would say to pay a bit more attention to the grammatical structure of your writing, such as breaking up some of the sentences in the first paragraph. This might help the overall 'flow' of your blog go a bit smoother.
All in all, I enjoyed reading it.
Good job!
You obviously have passion for this and until now, I hadn't even heard of this incident. This Reverend does not necessarily do a great job of representing our faith, and so, as Biola students, shouldn't that enrage us to want a change in how Christianity is seen in our world? Your writing is easy to understand, but some more backing up of your information would be good, like a quote from a different paper.
All in all, this was very insightful to read.
Being the last person (and somewhat of a slacker) to comment on this blog, I apologize for the repetitive commenting. Thanks for pointing out the absurdity and nonesense that we often ignore. The Reverend's quote simply scares me. I am sad to fall under the category of Christian in the sense that he is a represenation of our views to this matter (clearly not true, but by default/title) Thank you for being honest and passionate. My thoughts as of now is that humans are incapable of complete justice; we are not God, and therefore our actions relfect that.
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