Grown-up White Denial at Heart of Jena 6 Case

When I originally started research for this story, my intent was to write a much different post. However, the more I read, the more complete a picture of the story emerged, and I realized this was a different story.

The Jena 6 case, where 6 black youth are being charged for serious crimes stemming from a series of racist incidents, is not about a series of unconnected events, like the District Attorney, Reed Walters, would like to have the media believe. No, it’s about grown-up adults condoning circumstances that encouraged racism to seethe and grown.

It all begins with a tree. This tree was widely known to provide “white-only” shade. When the Vice President of the School was asked during a school assembly by a group of black students if they could sit beneath that tree, the answer was “sure, sit wherever.” The next day three nooses were hanging from the tree. The incident was considered a prank and the students who committed the “prank” were suspended for 3 days. That’s it. I’m sure you know the rest of the story. I’m not going to go there. If you don’t you can start at CNN.com but that will only provide a smidgen of the details.

Where I am going to go is into the microcosm of society known as high school. The blame for this situation rest squarely on the school officials, the DA, and on the adults who send their kids to this school. They’re the ones that allowed this situation to incubate and chose to do nothing.