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Where's the Outrage over the Jena 6?
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09/20/07 03:50 AM ET
Just when I was wondering whatever happened to Jesse Jackson, he pops up to accuse Barack Obama of “acting like he’s white” — for not making a bigger deal about recent events in Jena, La.
He’s wrong about Obama, who has condemned what happened in Jena. But Jackson’s right about this: Why aren’t we all more outraged about what’s going on down there? And why aren’t we hearing more about Jena, and less about O.J.?
In case you’re ignorant of the facts, like I was until Jesse Jackson spoke out, here they are:
Black high school students were told they couldn’t sit under a certain tree on school property because it was for “whites only.” When they got permission from the principal to do so, they found three nooses hanging from the tree.
At a school assembly, the local district attorney told students he could “make their lives disappear with the stroke of my pen.” He subsequently charged six black students with attempted murder with a deadly weapon for striking a white student during a brawl that followed. Deadly weapon? Their tennis shoes.
Meanwhile, the three white students who started everything by hanging nooses from the tree were merely suspended from school for two days.
And we thought we’re living in an America where a black man could be elected president? We’re not even living in an America where a black man can sit under the same tree as a white man.
In the middle of all the O.J. coverage, isn’t there time to talk about Jena?
He’s wrong about Obama, who has condemned what happened in Jena. But Jackson’s right about this: Why aren’t we all more outraged about what’s going on down there? And why aren’t we hearing more about Jena, and less about O.J.?
In case you’re ignorant of the facts, like I was until Jesse Jackson spoke out, here they are:
Black high school students were told they couldn’t sit under a certain tree on school property because it was for “whites only.” When they got permission from the principal to do so, they found three nooses hanging from the tree.
At a school assembly, the local district attorney told students he could “make their lives disappear with the stroke of my pen.” He subsequently charged six black students with attempted murder with a deadly weapon for striking a white student during a brawl that followed. Deadly weapon? Their tennis shoes.
Meanwhile, the three white students who started everything by hanging nooses from the tree were merely suspended from school for two days.
And we thought we’re living in an America where a black man could be elected president? We’re not even living in an America where a black man can sit under the same tree as a white man.
In the middle of all the O.J. coverage, isn’t there time to talk about Jena?
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