The PBS Newshour did a great job again yesterday evening, with its story "Thousands Protest in Support of Jena Six." Nooses hanging from trees, an all-white jury convicting a black youth on adult felony counts, "a string of racially motivated incidents," black people marching in the streets while "white residents were out on their front porches standing with their arms crossed, glaring as the demonstrators walked past." Is this a blast from the 1950s or 1960s? Nope, its 2007 in America.
...what you have here is really just a profound difference in perceptions of the racial divide which we see across the country. Basically, the whites here did not think that the noose incident was any big deal. They all think it was a prank and a joke. Whereas black people here and across the country, when you tell them about it, they are profoundly troubled by it, because nooses are such a potent and hateful symbol for them.
It's amazing that anyone could fail to understand the symbolic power of the noose to black people in this country. Except George Allen, that is. But more to the point, how can anyone claim that race is no longer with us as an issue in America? Do people who believe this have their heads completely in the sand or what? Here's Theodore Shaw, President of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on that issue:
This started in a public school context with racial tensions, and there was apparently segregation within the schools, the tree, the nooses, et cetera. And I think that's the other reason why this is resonating, because a lot of people are trying to will us to a point where race doesn't matter when, in fact, it still does, and this is another sign of that. That's what Jena reflects in this country, the fact that race is still with us.
That's right, "race is still with us" in America today. We need to redouble our efforts towards a color-blind society, where everyone is treated equally and justice is truly blind to race, class, social status, etc. Unfortunately, we still have a ways to go, as the "Jena 6" case shows us.
Have we made no progress at all when it concerns racism? News like this story is so sad. We, as progressives, have to work harder to reach out to our fellow citizens no matter what their color and the onus is on us to do so.
I feel like we reach out to the black community only when we need their votes. Here in Louisville, our politicians make the election year pilgrimage to the West End, donating money to the Baptist Churches and hiring the "consultants" who have the political push in the neighborhood. The rest of the time, you just don't see them.
When I look at Jim Webb and how he is so concerned with the high incarceration numbers, I see a white politician who is really reaching out to the African-American community. As far as the rest of the white progressives in the country, I think we have a long way to go to catch up with Jim.
Thanks for writing about this story, Lowell.