An open letter to white progressives about Jena

I yield the floor to Prometheus 6:

An open letter to white progressives about Jena

The Jena, LA controversy isn't over. I didn't expect it to be over this quickly, but a couple of things have happened since the recent demonstration that make me genuinely concerned about how it will eventually be resolved. What put my concerns over the top was the recent statements by the District Attorney and Mayor of Jena that indicate their sympathies are far too closely aligned with those of white supremacist organizations. But what first made me concerned was the reaction of progressive white folks...something I thought we might adjust over time by filling in the huge gaps the mainstream media has left in the story. The more I read on the Jena controversy the more I feel like the drowning guy who keeps getting water balloons lobbed at him.

I've had my emotional reaction to it already. Thinking about the entire situation I conclude I have a snowball's chance in hell of changing the minds of the Mayor or District Attorney. They are taking the hardest line possible, and as I said, there was those recent statements...

I've realized though that there are several issues conflated in most Black folks' reaction, and teasing them apart might help those progressives among you that find yourselves troubled by the Jena demonstration feel more at ease.

I'm going to start with the nooses. Yes, it strikes you as obvious, I'm sure you rolled your eyes. And you, well, you just don't think it's as bad as a kick in the head. Well, this is not an argument, it is a statement. To Black Americans, a hangman's noose send the same signal as a burning cross. There may be some differentiation with you but for most Black people there is not. And I heard that guy over there, he said they use nooses in plays, they play that “hangman” game, and I say yes the meaning of a hangman's noose is more contextual than that of a burning cross. But somehow when those nooses turn up, they are always in that context.

Again, this is not an argument, it is information for you. You should treat nooses like swastikas.

When you hear Black people say the kid got beat up because the nooses were hung, it means that is the wound that festered as opposed to the infection that was the months of subsequent brawling. That is one point.

Second, the domestic media coverage of this has been horrible beyond merely being absent. I am one of the folks who have been following the case from the first article in the Chicago Tribune. You have no idea how frustrating it was to read article after article saying “nooses were hung and a white kid got jumped,” when NPR, in the most detailed description of events I've seen, says the response to the nooses was a silent protest. The school called the police.

I watched every mainstream media outlet skip right over that. That's another point.

I can find no specifics about what happened between the beginning of the semester and Nov. 30; the NPR article just says “Fights began to break out at the high school. But that year, the football team was having an unusually good season and the black athletes were a major reason why. So while there were fights throughout the fall, nobody wanted to take any action that would hurt the team. “ All I know for certain is they bypassed a number of opportunities to resolve the issue during this time.

The next report was of a Black youth, Robert Bailey, being beat up at a mostly white party one Friday night. The District Attorney could have said that was the last straw. He did not. The next day Bailey got into an argument with one of the students at a store. The student went to get a gun from his car, and was disarmed. The District Attorney said that was the last straw...and had Bailey arrested for defending himself. Monday, two days later, Justin Barker “loudly bragging to friends in the school hallway that Robert Bailey had been whipped by a white man on Friday night,” incited a riot and got hurt. A high school brawl ensued.

Equal protection under the law would see Justin Barker compelled to identify the people that assaulted Robert Bailey, and have those people charged with the same crime. And it will not happen.

Don't worry. There's only one more point.

You, white progressives, must see that this is a real problem and not let it die. Because the discomfort of staring the reality of racism in the face so soon after Jeff Jacoby declared racism irrelevant has brought forth the inevitable diversion. The natural one is the disproportionate crime rate in the Black community. And I'm not having that discussion right now...later, perhaps. I just need you to see that this problem is not one Black people can address. It is one you must address if there is to be justice.

I need you to see that when you have a well defined issue and dump ninety-two other issues on top of it, you cannot even claim to be trying to help.

And if you're saying you need do nothing about racism until it is the last problem on Earth, I think ALL Black people need to hear that.

Thank you, P6, for your eloquence.

Will we continue to hear birds chirping from the White Progressive Blogopshere? Or, will they throw down their defensiveness and recognize the serious issue of UNEqual Justice that is NOT going away.

Stand with the Burmese Protestors

Stand with the Burmese Protesters

After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising – and they need our help. Marches begun by monks and nuns snowballed, bringing hundreds of thousands to the streets. Now the crackdown has begun, but the protests are spreading...

When the Burmese last marched in 1988, the military massacred thousands. If the world stands up and supports their struggle, this time they could win. We're in a race against time-- targeting the dictatorship's main backer China in a global advertising campaign, delivering the petition to the UN secretary-general and sending the Burmese our support via radio--

Sign this petition HERE.

Museum clings to Black WWII history

Hat Tip: Booker Rising

Museum clings to black WWII history

White owner struggles to stay in business
September 30, 2007
BY WILSON RING

POWNAL, Vt. -- Down a dirt driveway, in one of the whitest states in the nation, is a museum dedicated to the experiences of black servicemen and -women during World War II.
The Museum of Black World War II History is run by 65-year-old Bruce Bird, a white, retired factory worker who sold his home and used the proceeds to convert a two-room 19th century schoolhouse to house it. The museum, which opened in June 2006, offers display cases filled with World War II weapons, models of tanks and aircraft and other memorabilia.

At best, it gets a handful of visitors a week.

Bird doesn't know where the money will come from to pay his next fuel oil bill.

But he's steadfast in his resolve to recognize the WWII service and sacrifice of more than 1.1 million black servicemen and -women.

''We don't get enough people yet,'' Bird said. ''With any museum, you essentially need a rich sponsor. We haven't found one yet. I contend this museum should be run by a rich, famous black veteran, none of which I am.''

But Bird's build-it-and-they-will-come approach appears to be working, a little bit at a time.

''I think the museum is a great thing,'' said Gregory Black, a retired U.S Navy officer who runs the Web site blackmilitaryworld.com and has a link to the Vermont museum from his site. ''One of the things, overall, that African Americans are very disenchanted with these days is we don't really feel appreciated. We don't feel recognized for the contributions that we've made."

Bird wants to change that. His displays tell the stories of:

• • The 6888th Central Postal Directory Unit, made up entirely of black women who served in Europe.

• • The 761st Tank Battalion, which spent 183 days in combat in Europe.

• • The Pearl Harbor heroics of U.S. Navy mess attendant 2nd class Dorie Miller, of the battleship West Virginia. During the Dec. 7, 1941, attack, he pulled many wounded shipmates to safety and then, wielding a weapon he hadn't been trained to use, shot down at least two Japanese planes.

• • The Battle of the Bulge, in December 1944, when about half of the artillery battalions surrounded by the Germans near the Belgian city of Bastogne were made up of black soldiers.

And, of course, the museum has a display about the Tuskegee Airmen, the aviators who came to symbolize the challenges of black service members who sought to fly in combat and, once there, won the respect of fellow servicemen and the enemy.


'Hell of a good time'

Bird, who is single, used the profits from the sale of his house to buy a vacant schoolhouse. He used his credit card to put on a new roof and pay for electrical, plumbing and heating work. Much remains to be done.

The building is accessible to the handicapped, except that it doesn't have a handicapped-accessible restroom, and he can't afford the $5,000 cost to build one, so he can't bring in bus tours, as he'd like.

''I am having a hell of a good time," Bird said. "I never made appreciable amounts of money. I never married. What am I going to do for the rest of my life?

''Eventually, I will leave enough money so they can hire someone,'' he said. ''The first plan is to live a long time because it will take a long time.''

AP

Website Addy: Museum of Black WWII History

Bruce Bird
Founder and Curator
179 Oak Hill School Road
Pownal, VT 05261
802-823-5519


I plan on making a donation to the museum. Don't forget our museums. I know where you live there is a local Black History Museum of some sort. They need our support, and in order to keep our story alive, we need to support them. I don't know when I'm going to get to Vermont again, but I can make a donation so that someone, if they're in that neck of the woods, can visit it.

Related Site: Black Military World

Mychal Bell Is Freed On Bail

Hat Tip: Skeptical Brotha:

Mychal Bell is freed on bail
September 27th, 2007


Hat Tip: Doug Simpson, Associated Press

A black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed.

Mychal Bell’s release came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he will no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating.

District Attorney Reed Walters’ decision to abandon adult charges means that Bell, who had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on his aggravated second-degree battery conviction last month, instead could be held only until he turns 21 if he is found guilty in juvenile court.

The conviction in adult court was thrown out this month by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, which said Bell should not have been tried as an adult on that particular charge.

Walters credited the prayers of people in this small central Louisiana town with averting a “disaster” when tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on the town. Some critics of Walters considered that a slap against the peaceful marchers.

Now, it's time to get after that DA. Call him before Congress, Rep. Conyers. Let him explain that NYTimes Op-Ed full of lies.

Mychal Bell's Bail Set at $45, 000

Hat tip: Skeptical Brotha

Mychal Bell’s bail set at $45,000
September 27th, 2007

Hat Tip: (CNN) — Bail was being posted Thursday for Mychal Bell, a black teenager accused of beating a white classmate, after a district attorney’s announcement that he would not appeal a higher court’s decision moving Bell’s case to juv