THE JUSTICE SYSTEM'S LABOR SAVING DEVICE: ON THE BACKS OF BLACKS
It is well documented in historical annals that the United States became a 'superpower' as a result of African slave labor when it could be seen that native Indians and white indentured servants were inadequate to carry out the gargantuan tasks associated with the back-breaking, de-humanizing labor required. Today, the JENA-6 attacks are representative of what could be called an ugly glimpse of the 'second industrial revolution;' one designed to fill our nation's prisons with as many Blacks, male and female, as these mind-numbing, dignity-draining dungeons will hold, in exchange for essentially free labor. By 1993, half of all federal and state prisoners were Black. Granted, there are those in state prisons who committed crimes, but there are far too many who are also innocent of the crimes for which they were found guilty.
In the prisons and penitentiaries are tens of thousands of Black human beings who point out daily that so many of our national leaders and locally elected officials choose to remain conspicuously silent about demanding that our government take whatever measures necessary to stop these ongoing and organized attacks on Blacks under the umbrella of 'justice served' when it is often justice designed to continue modern-day slavery. It is no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the prison system in the United States is another form of slavery for the Labor Machine in this country. Prisoners in the 21st Century serve corporate America's interests. They produce far more than license plates. This tattered group of 'modern-day slaves' could easily point out that JENA-type incidents happen every day, as mentioned earlier, all across America.
THE "NEW NOOSES": A SHORT REVIEW
In JENA, it was a 21st Century noose incident that set off the most explosive phase of this sad story. JENA was the most recent culmination of several racial incidents perpetrated upon Blacks in the town. Just as in the "olden" days before and after slavery, it was The Noose that ignited a fire to be free of past degradation. Not much is said about the fact that it was a Black student who asked the white principal at Jena High School if he could sit under the "white tree" where white students hung out during break times, and the principal said, Purvis (the Black student) could sit where he liked. The next day Purvis and his cousin Bryant stood under the tree and the rest is history, as the saying goes.
The next morning three nooses dangled from the tree in the school yard. The meaning was clear in terms of the hate it generated. Yet, the overwhelmingly white school board decided to call the incident a youthful prank and punished the culprits with a few days of suspension. Those who are familiar with U.S. history would know that the so-called prank was really a throwback to slavery. For more than 200 years the hanging of 'nooses' was also considered a prank by various white civic and social 'boards' of this or that ilk...if you were Black, they were deadly pranks. The soulful blues singer Cassandra Wilson, in her recording New Moon Daughter (Blue Note, 1995), sang of the monstrous practice of lynching in the song "Strange Fruit [Hangin' from the Poplar Tree], first sung by the legendary Billie Holliday, as a Civil Rights protest: "Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh...Then the sudden smell of burning flesh."
There was a chronology of events leading to the Jena noose incident that seems to have gotten lost in the majority of mainstream media stories. In Jena, Justin Sloan, a white man, had attacked Black students who tried to go to a white party. Sloan was later charged only with battery and placed on probation. A few days after that incident, a white boy pulled a gun on three Black students in a convenience store. One of the Black students wrestled the gun from the white boy and took it home. So what happened? The Black student was arrested and then charged with 'theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace' for trying to protect himself and his friends. The white student who had produced the gun? He was not charged with any crime.
AND THESE ACTS CONTINUE...ONE MORE ITEM IN THIS LIST TO HIGHLIGHT 'JENA JUSTICE'
Later, in the case, and in a separate and particular charge against the six Black students, the district attorney of the town levied attempted second-degree murder charges. But, this charge, in order to stick, required that the perpetrator be charged with the illegal use of a deadly weapon. In JENA Justice, this was no problem: the D.A. simply argued that the sneakers used to kick the white student "were indeed deadly weapons." It was some comfort however, to know that this conviction was overturned by a Louisiana State Appellate Court. After a massive public outcry the Appellate Court ruled that the Black student should not have been tried as an adult in the first place.
LYNCHING AND TOWN CELEBRATIONS
In the "olden days" it was usual for a town's white people to witness and then celebrate the lynching of Black brothers and sisters hanging from trees. In joyful glee the citizens donned 'souvenir' nooses around their necks as part of having a good time. These towns' people, including many participating officials, also left nooses on the doors of the next targeted Black as warning signs regarding whose hanging body would be the next "Strange Fruit Hanging From the Trees" unless Blacks 'stayed in their place.' This type of domestic terrorist activity went on for more than 200 hundred years; every year until 1952. It was an annual news worthy event for Tuskegee Institute to report in its journal headlines that 1952 was the first year of NO LYNCHING's in 71 Years in the USA! Every year from 1881 to 1952 there was at least one lynching in the United States of America.
'NEW NOOSES' THAT MUST BE EXPOSED AND DESTROYED
From local to national leaders there has been little outcry or demand to continue marches and mass demonstrations in JENA, or the use of any other organizational Civil Rights or anti-hate crime strategy. Louisiana may not have any 'hate crime' statutes, but the Federal Government certainly does. Where is the Justice Department in the JENA-6 scenario? It has remained conspicuously silent! There should have been an immediate investigation as soon as the nooses were hung & the D.A. gave an obligatory slap-on-the-
wrist to the perpetrators.
Only recently has anyone at the Justice Department spoken. MSNBC.com reported that Terrorism and immigration are their current priorities. It begs the question: What do they think a HATE CRIME qualifies as? The hanging of nooses is a HATE CRIME, not a prank; one that has been documented through centuries of Black Americans' blood, guts, and tears. The meaning of nooses is just as cruel as a swastika on a Jewish synagogue, home, or business would be in the eyes of the law and decent human beings.
Since the JENA-6 incident made headlines, a number of other 'NOOSE' incidents have appeared, including two high-profile crimes; one in a Black Coast Guard cadet's bag on a Maryland college campus, and another on the office door of a Black professor at Columbia University in New York. Incidents have occurred in at least three other states. Democratic lawmakers have denounced the Justice Department for not intervening after investigating; deciding that the JENA matter could not be prosecuted. According to Donald Washington, the first Black U.S. attorney for Louisiana's western district, "the federal government typically does not bring hate crimes charges against juveniles."
It is a testament to those who organized and participated in the Jena demonstrations. They should be congratulated for doing such a superb job of mobilizing tens of thousands of outraged citizens to march in the streets of Jena. It is those demonstrations, as well as other organized protests, that should be continued until justice is served. The Reverend Al Sharpton of New York, who spoke before the House Judiciary Committee investigating the NOOSE hanging incident, decried the JENA-6 episode, saying "there was unfairness in a criminal justice system that declined to charge white students for a hate crime because they are minors, but [initially] chose to charge the six Black teens in the beating incident that followed, as adults." Sharpton pointed out that "These nooses were hung over a year ago...I know that the wheels of justice turn slow, but they seem to be at a standstill...that's why we're seeing nooses all over America." The Justice Establishment in Louisiana has spoken with its eyes wide shut and all across the nation their inept response to this type of domestic terrorism must be challenged.
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