by Jacquline Singer

Created on: October 07, 2009   Last Updated: October 09, 2009

In order to see real justice in the Jena 6 incident, you need to completely remove race from the table. But that will never happen. The race card is played in every situation, especially in the South. Was there a crime committed you ask? Ask the victim, ask his parents, ask the withnesses, better yet, ask the defendants. There was definitely a crime committed and there were witnesses. Six young men attacked one young man and beat him terribly. I intentionally left race out of the sentence.

As of June 26, five defendants plead no contest to the charges. The "no contest" plea acknowledged that the defendants were aware of the fact that prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction. Further, as part of the plea, the defendants had their attorney read a statement acknowledging the damage that had been caused by their actions. In the statement, they acknowledged that Barker had never made any racial slur, nor had the victim in any way done anything to warrant the attack, nor was he involved in any act that would have provoked Michael Bell to attack him. They also expressed sympathy for the victim and his family for the pain and suffering that had been caused by the incident. They acknowledged the fact that everyone had suffered for 2 1/2 years for the beating of someone who had done nothing to incite this incident.

Real justice would be served when the racial motivators had to acknowledge their error in judgement by inciting riot in a community the size of Jena. Real justice would occur when Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson and any other civil rights activist had to pay for a televised apology for the damage they had done to the racial issue in the south, and a public reading of the statement made by the five defendants. Real justice would be served by the defendants being personally responsible for the medical and legal bills of the victim, and for them to fund a community function to help tear down the racial boundaries and build unity in the community in which they live.

As long as we have people like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson stirring the coals of racial injustice, we will never be able to heal the rift. There are real issues between blacks and whites that need to be addressed, but this is not the way to do it. You can not keep throwing gas on a fire and hope that it will go out. Young people, black and white, need to know that their actions, good or bad, not only have consequences, but will follow them the rest of their lives.

Being black does not cause

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>