Was it a Waste?

We all recall the turn of events that shaped national headlines for weeks in late 2007. We all recall the busses converging on rural Louisiana to protest the treatment of 6 young men labeled the ‘Jena 6’. These young men [Bryant Purvis, Corwin Jones, Mychal Bell, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey, and Theo Shaw] were charged with attempted murder for assaulting a lone white school mate [Justin Barker] in response to the hanging of a noose on a tree in the schoolyard. Many of us have read the stories and know the background of the situation. However, I was looked upon as deranged when I asked a question about this situation. While everyone was rallying, organizing to go to Jena, and protesting the injustices, I was asking questions. I wanted to know a bit more about these young men and their histories. I wanted to find out a bit more about Justin Barker as well.


Historically, we have been a people who reacted on emotion rather than information. Case and point, the Tawana Brawley case that propelled Sharpton into the national spotlight. This turned out to be a lie. The stripper and the Duke Lacrosse team…no comment. You see, we have too many folks who cry wolf and we keep jumping to their aide before we find out the whole story. The actions of these young men since the whole rally, protests, etc. has shown me that I was right in the first place. My personal opinion was that they were properly charged with attempted murder. I don’t care what they hung from a tree, to have 6 people jump on one, you have the propensity to kill them (regardless of the race of the individuals involved) therefore, even without the presence of weapons, the charge was adequate in my opinion. However, somebody thought it wasn’t right so they protested.


Then, after the charges were reduced and everything was resolved they were paraded around the country as heroes. They went to the BET image awards, several talk shows, etc, it was one big party. It was almost as if their actions were being lauded as proper. The result of which is one of the young men moving to Dallas to live with a relative, who played for the Cowboys, and trying to run over a white boy at his new high school with a car, because he made him mad. They gave him probation and community service. Another one was later charged with assault for another fight he was involved in. Oh, by the way he had also been charged with trespassing for another incident he was involved in. Another one was charged with simple battery, simple criminal damage to property less than $500 and simple assault. He was given a suspended sentence and house arrest. He also had 13 disciplinary actions against him at school (recommended for expulsion). They later suspended his probation and allowed him to move to Connecticut to use Jena 6 defense funds to pay his tuition at a private school. Then you have the moron of the year who was arrested for leaving the jurisdiction while on bail and speeding in an uninsured vehicle. Later, there was the shoplifting, resisting arrest, and simple assault charges that were levied on Christmas Eve.


Some will argue that these young men got into this trouble because of the attitude toward them in the Jena community. This can be refuted by the fact that several of these young men’s troubles continued when they let the small Louisiana town. Others will say that the pressure of this whole situation was too much for them to handle. To this I say, as I often do, that we all have to deal with the decisions we make in life. They decided to work as a group (of six) to fight, and possibly maim or kill, one classmate and therefore need to deal with what goes with that. Then, to further exhibit the intelligence, or lack thereof of this group of miscreants, Mychal Bell uses a .22 caliber gun to try and kill himself. When I heard this I said, “What?!?!?! Why didn’t he just hit himself with rocks?” How stupid can you be to use such a small gun to do the deed? Being from the country he had to know that he wouldn’t be successful. To further exhibit his stupidity, he shot himself in the chest. What?!?!?!? He didn’t want death, he wanted attention. Nothing more! All reports state that it was a non life threatening injury. He’s shown himself to be an ignorant coward who misses the spotlight so much so that he’ll do anything to get back into it.
By the way, I’m also sick of black folk using the excuse, “If it had been a white boy…” How about this…how about we don’t commit crimes or put ourselves in a position to be maliciously prosecuted? How about that? It’s time out for us to justify our actions, or errors in judgment, by the fact that others are getting away with it. That’s crap and we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard than that. We can do right, we can walk the path, and we can be role models for your own kids and clean up our own communities.


What took place with these young men in Jena was a travesty on many levels. These young men weren’t treated fairly by the legal system, but no in the way that you’re thinking. We live in a society that levies penalties on its citizens for their actions, or infractions of the laws that are in place. What we have effectively told these guys is they were right to beat their classmate to a pulp with a 6 to 1 ratio. What we have told them is that they are above the law, and many of them are living like they are. What we told them is that if we protest, make noise and scare some folk we can get out of trouble, even if we are wrong. I don’t care if some Asian kid, white kid, Hispanic kid, or any other ethnicity got away with it. I was raised with the mindset, don’t put yourself in a situation you aren’t willing to suffer the consequences for. Yes, they should have been upset about the noose in the tree. Yes they should have been upset about the other events that took place in their community. However, none of that justifies one student being assaulted by 6 at the same time. They chose this path and should have suffered some consequences for their actions.


However, our community lauded their actions and treated them as heroes. Now we see the result. Had I been one of the ‘Jena 6’ my mother would not have allowed the parading across the country from show to show, event to event these young men did. They were wrong for what they did and should have suffered the consequences for their actions. Since they didn’t, and haven’t for consequent actions, they will continue to act in a manner that is above the law and outside of the parameters of our society. We created this monster, now we’ll have to wait to see how it looks as it grows up. Don’t get me wrong, they can change, should they choose to make different decisions, but based on present actions and immediate past decisions, I don’t see it.


It’s just my opinion, I Pray I’m Wrong.

Now What?

I must apologize. It has been a minute since I posted. I initially thought I’d take a few days and marinate about the magnitude of Obama’s presidential victory. Then it turned into a month. Anyways, since I didn’t post about that, let’s talk a bit. I am happy that we have a new president that is qualified, certified, and the best man for the job. It is simply the icing on the cake that he is a black man. If you voted for him because he is black, shame on you and you really don’t deserve the right to vote. [seriously] If you had the foresight and intelligence to review the issues and actually pay attention to the debates, platforms and campaign stump speeches and chose to vote for him because he IS the best man for the job, then congratulations. Those who actually reviewed the candidate’s views, stances and platforms know that there really wasn’t much in the way of difference between McCain and Obama, however Barack Hussein Obama IS our new president (I know he hasn’t taken office yet, but that’s the way I want to say it).

I was never more embarrassed than to see so many black folk over the age of 25 who were voting for the first time in this presidential election. What the hell have they been doing? Where have they been living? I would be willing to bet that these are the same idiots who ran around complaining about the mayor, governor, city councilman, etc and were too lazy, stupid or trifling to take part in the process. I always say that we have the right to vote, but we have the responsibility to be informed voters. I hope those who are 1st time voters aren’t last time voters. I believe we ought to vote every time there’s an election. Vote for everything from dog catcher to county tax assessor, they all affect you and your place in this society.

Now, I know this might not be a popular stance, but hear me out and, by all means, share your views as well. As I was saying, I believe that the election of this nations first non-white president says less about this country and racism than it does about the black community. Case and point…we keep hearing, “they finally elected a black man.” Think back and name three black men who were qualified, competent and available to run for POTUS in your lifetime…I’m still waiting. I didn’t think so. We’ve had Jesse and Al, neither of which were suited, competent or qualified for the job, and both are opportunistic racist morons who care about nothing more than the spotlight being shined on them and their fake causes. Then there’s Alan Keyes, from the republican Motissa tribe. He is an idiotic, moron who doesn’t have sense enough to know that they use him to try and divide the black vote every time they can. In order for there to be an indictment of this country, we ought to have had someone who was qualified in the position to run for president. Who’s to say that we wouldn’t have had a black man in the white house before? I can call Barack an African-American, because he IS one. He is 1 generation removed from the continent and actually has family to visit there. I’m about sick of black folk claiming to be African American [that’s another topic for another day].

Anyway, I say congratulations to America, Barack Hussein Obama, and all of my countrymen who will put their shoulders to the plow and work to make this country a great one under this new administration. This country and its leaders need our prayers, determination and ingenuity to turn around this economy and our reputation in the world’s eyes. While it is a great feat to have achieved, I’m not sure it is one that is going to be as great as he thought considering the plight he faces. He’ll be criticized greatly for not implementing all of the things he promised during his campaign, but those who pay attention will know that he can’t with the economy as it is, spend some of the money needed for the implementation of some of his platform programs. In 2012, his opponents will play looped tapes of him promising things that will not have been delivered. We musn’t be fooled by such. I simply pray that he and his administration are able to steady this economy in one term, then we’ll go from there.

This musing is entitled ‘Now What?’ for a reason. Regardless of why he won the election, as black people in America we are in a different position than we were this time last year. We have all heard folks complaining about being held back just for being black...not any longer. Now what will you use as your excuse? A black man now holds the most powerful title in this land [some would say the world]. What I really appreciate is all of the statistical realities that he shattered. In a time where black men aren’t respecting their women we have one who tells us every chance he gets that she is his rock and showers her with affection regardless of where they are. In a time where black men aren’t staying around to raise their kids we have one who is not only married to the mother of his kids, but is active in their lives. In a time where statistics say that the product of a single parent home is more likely to go to jail than college, we have one who graduated top of his class from one of the most prestigious colleges in the world. In a time where women are putting off having kids for their careers or having kids and letting someone else raise them for their careers, we have a strong, competent black woman, putting her career on hold for her the well being of her children. This family is a great American story as well as an inspirational story. Congrats to us all…I look forward to seeing the accomplishments he’ll be able to make in his second term.

It’s Just My Opinion, But I’m Not Wrong.