The Jena 6 should be frontpage news.
Louisiana should be embarrassed.
In the wake of Katrina with all of the obvious problems that were exposed we should be a little scared of the developing storm around even newer injustices in the embattled state.
The Jena6, for those who have been blacked out, are six young black men between the ages of 17-18 who were charged with attempted murder for a schoolyard fight.
The small Louisiana parish of Jena was the setting.
85% white in the great state of Louisiana, I am sure there is a history of racism there.
If the recent events are any indication there is a rich history of racism that has gone on unabated.
Racism is not new. Unfair and harsh prison sentences for young black men are not new.
After civil rights movement and our reaquisition of the right to vote most black folks thought that blatant injustices like this were thing of the past. We have come to expect more comlex shenanigans like the Tuskeegee experiment, Cointelpro and Rockefeller laws.
Jena is unsettling at best, a sign of the apocalypse at worst.
We need to look at this shit, if it keeps going there is going to be a lot of unneccsary bloodshed.
People have a right to defend themselves. It gets hard when you are up against the government ask anyone in Darfur or surviving Bosnians.
The people are being ignored just like poor victims of a lynhcmob in the twentys. The black people in Jena are being left to their own devices just like the newly freed entreprenurial slaves of the south after reconstruction.
What I find scary is the hate.
What did we do?
Why?
I know these are sophomoric questions that can only be answered by the God of ignorance. He resides in his exclusive hatefilled heaven reserved for the limited few who will recieve his good graces.
His disciples speak on radio talkshows blaming the Michael Vick's, Jesse Jacksons and yes Barack Obamas(he is certainly black enough- at least to black people) of the world for our eroding society.
We are poised to descend , once again , into the dark tunnel of savagery I thought we dug out of.
The divide and conquer strategy (poor people at odds) that the planter class (oil& tobbacco) practiced in 1869 works like a charm to this day.
The only way this shit stops is when we ALL stand up, black, white, yellow, red and human and say.
"Share the fucking wealth".
That will, be about the time they start to charge us for breathing .
In the meantime google Jena six
If you are not pissed
I won't blame you
I reserve pity for the ignorant only.
Friday, August 31, 2007
We Should Be Scared
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5 comments:
I'm scared as hell, but they won't defeat me or anyone else with their toxic hatred. My heart's with Sunni Patterson's spoken word. She's from New Orleans
So I’m from a stock
that pitch cocktail bombs and hand grenades.
We pour cayenne pepper around the perimeter of the building
to keep the police dogs at bay.
I’m like the Panther Party
in the Desire Housing Projects in New Orleans.
I’m about to turn the gun on the National Guards.
Take a long, long look.
I’m a cook in the kitchen
asking the missus to taste the dinner
take a long, long sip,
’cuz death ain’t always this good.
It’s eyes popping out their sockets.
It’s a lifeless body rocking backwards and forwards.
It's a boy stabbed forty-seven times
in front the church house.
It's a man forty-three years old,
who’s stuffing his penis in a nine-year-old girl's mouth,
and all don’t always taste good
just don't sound like something I want to eat often.
I hear them say
it was like a train came through the room
left mama so depressed she was unable to move
until this one day.
It was like a few months after the hurricane.
Husband and child found the trinity bloody in bed.
His wife, his son, his other daughter was dead,
and on the end table there was a letter that read,
it said, “I couldn't stay here,
not for one minute longer,
and it made no sense for me to leave here alone, ’cause who would take care of my babies
with their mama gone?”
I’m telling you, death ain't always good.
It will leave you fending for water and food.
It will riddle up your body in the Audubon Ballroom
They’ll El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz you,
crown you king, then dethrone you in a Lorraine Hotel.
They’ll disfigure your body to where folks can’t tell
if you Emmett Till or not,
tell the mama, “Keep that casket open,
let all the world see it ain't just burning in Mississippi.”
Hell, it's hot wherever you be,
from the rooftop to the cell block,
step on up to the auction block,
and bend over,
touch your toes,
show your teeth,
lift her titties,
examine his balls,
now, this damn near sounds like a hip-hop song,
but it's slavery at its peak,
it's a circus for all the freaks.
They'll warn you, “Caution when you speak,”
can't afford the truth to leak,
but will say “Blessed are the meek
and are the ones who make peace
and are the ones who are persecuted
for the sake of righteousness,”
for we say theirs is the kingdom,
earth is their inheritance.
So no matter how treacherous,
they'll try to trap us in them trenches,
and they'll dig deeper ditches,
but all that matters is this.
It's like which side will we pick,
or which path will we choose.
It's either win or lose,
’cuz death don't come in vain,
not for us to remain enslaved
or our spirits to remain in cages.
It comes so we might be courageous
to fulfill our obligation to our God and all creation,
stand in determination,
able to look death right in the face
and say we made it,
we made it,
we made it,
we made it.
Thank you for the apt post
dancy
wow powerful words dave, the poem that luminaria sent moved me to tears...it pretty much captures the underlying feelings i get occasionally when my rose colored glasses are off...wow continue speaking truth
adrienne
It made me cry too
Damn, that was deep! It's a travesty that something like the Jena 6 crisis could still go on to this day but people are still sleeping and thinking that racism doesn't exist. It's definitely not getting the media coverage it deserves but at least, with internet support, there may be hope that justice will be served.
P.S. I got your comment on my blog about hip-hop. It's a sad day my brother. I got a lot to say about the state of things but hit me up via email and we'll talk about it.
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