Ezekiel Edwards
Some Things (like racism in our criminal justice system) Never Change
I am going to tell a brief story. Tell me whether you think it takes place in 1957 or 2007.
There is a small town of under 3,000 people. There is a high school in the town. There is a tree at the school known as the "white tree", because only white kids sit under it.
A black student asks school officials for permission to sit under the "white tree". The student receives permission.
A group of black students then sit under the "white tree".
The next day, three nooses, in school colors, are hanging from the "white tree".
Three white students are found responsible. The high school principal recommends expulsion.
The superintendent of schools, who is white, instead suspends the students for three days, seeing the nooses as no more than a "youthful stunt". "Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody", says the superintendent.
Black students organize a sit-in under the "white tree" in protest, believing that the students who hung nooses as race-based intimidation were given indifferent slaps on the wrists.
The white District Attorney comes to the school. He brings police officers with him.
At the school assembly, the District Attorney threatens the black students who had protested. He tells them he can be their best friend or worst enemy. He says that if they continue agitating about an innocent prank, he could "take away [their] lives with a stroke of [his] pen."
A few months later, a black student shows up at a white party. He is beaten. One white person is arrested and charged with simple battery.
The next day, at a convenience store, a young white man pulls out a shotgun in a confrontation with young black men, including the youth beaten up at the party. The black youths wrestle the shotgun away from the white man. The black youths are arrested. No charges are filed against the white man.
A few days after that, at the high school, a fight breaks out involving black students (including the one who had been beaten up at the party) and a white student who had made racial taunts against the black students, including the word "nigger" (in support of the noose-hanging students and the students who had beaten up the black student at the party). As a result of the fight, the white student is treated at a hospital and released the same day. He goes to a social function that evening.
Six black students are arrested for the fight and charged with attempted second-degree murder. They are all expelled from school. One is an unidentified minor, while the others are from between 16 and 18 years old. Bail is set for each, from between $70,000 and $138,000, forcing many of them to remain in jail for months.
The 16-year-old's case goes to trial. The jury pool is all-white, which means that the jury ends up all white, too. One of the jurors is a relative of one of the prosecution's witnesses. Several jurors are friends of the prosecution's witnesses. Two jurors are on good terms with the District Attorney. One side of the courtroom is white (for the white student who had been beaten up). The other side is black. The judge is white.
The black student's mother and father are barred from the trial because they are listed as potential witnesses; but the white victim, also a witness, is permitted in the courtroom.
The black student's attorney, a white public defender, does not challenge the all-white jury pool. He puts on no evidence. He does not call a single witness.
After resting his "case", the public defender says that he did not think race was an issue in the trial, that he had a fair and impartial jury, and that he is confident the jury would return a verdict of not guilty.
The all-white jury deliberates for less than three hours before convicting the 16-year-old of two felonies, aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit the same. The charge of aggravated battery requires that a deadly weapon be used in the attack. The weapon in this case: a tennis shoe.
The 16-year-old sophomore faces up to 22 years in prison.
His attorney says that he did the best that he could.
The other five black students await similar trials on attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy charges.
As for the white victim, he is later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high school campus and released on $5,000 bond.
As for the noose-hangers, they are never charged.
That's the story.
Now, back to the question: does this story take place in 1957 or 2007? Does it occur shortly after the Supreme Court held segregation unconstitutional or half a century later?
If you guessed 1957, that was a good guess. But you're wrong.
This story is real, and it is happening now. In Jena, Louisiana. In LaSalle Parish, where David Duke carried a majority of the white vote when he ran for Governor; where 75% of the population supported George W. Bush; where 85% of the town (and 80% of the high school) is white and around 10% is Black; where there is one black police officer; where families earn well below the national average, and where less than 10% of the businesses in the Parish are owned by Blacks; where the county government consists of ten people, all are men, nine are white; where the school board has nine members; all are men, eight are white.
Jena is where the privately owned Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth was forced to close its doors in 2000 after only two years of operation because of the widespread brutality and racism within its walls. Even the politically-driven U.S. Department of Justice sued the Correctional Center amid allegations that guards paid inmates to fight each other and found comedy in teens attempting suicide.
Jena is where Reed Walters, the District Attorney who threatened the black students, made a mockery of prosecutorial discretion.
And it is where 16-year-old Mychal Bell is going to be sentenced today, possibly to as many as 22 years in prison.
For most of American history, there was a justice system for white people, and a system without justice for black people. Today, in 2007, as we see in Jena, and as we see throughout the millions of jails cells scattered throughout this country, there are still two justice systems; one for the middle and upper classes (mostly white people), and one for the poor (disproportionately people of color).
One system is relatively fair, a system where Scooter Libby gets pardoned by a President who avoids pardons like the plague (and runs away from reducing federal sentences, having reduced only three out of 5,000), and where, on the rare occasion when affluent white people are wrongfully accused, like the Duke lacrosse players, they can avoid prison and even be exonerated before ever being convicted.
And then there is the other criminal justice system, the one for poor people, the much, much larger one, the one which can claim most of the 2.3 million people in prison in this country, the one off of which money is made and political offices are held.
This is the system for people like Mychal Bell, the high school sophomore whose life has been derailed unfairly by a racist prosecutor and an all-white jury, without even receiving adequate representation, while his white counterparts were left relatively unscathed.
This is the one for people like Troy Davis, who might be executed by the State of Georgia despite plausible evidence of his innocence, evidence that no court has ever heard.
This is the criminal justice system that incarcerates tens of thousands of poor people for years, excessively, for nonviolent offenses, people who will never, ever be pardoned by the President.
Jena is not some anomalous peculiarity of our criminal justice system; Jena IS our criminal justice system: two-tiered, racist, causing grossly disproportionate harm to poor people of color.
Jena reminds me that our past looks alot like our present, and makes me fear that our future will look alot like our present.
Posted at 7:00 AM, Jul 31, 2007 in Civil Rights | Criminal Justice | Prisons | Racial Justice | Permalink | Comments (11)
Comments
Wow, Zeke. This is an incredibly powerful post.
Posted by: Andrea Batista Schlesinger | July 31, 2007 01:43 PM
This story has gotten so little press coverage, it's ridiculous. Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! is the only news source I've heard in the New York area covering this. If you use Google News and search on "Mychal Bell" there are less than 35 articles on this story, and the vast majority of them are local Louisiana press. This should be a story that everyone in this country knows about.
Posted by: Gregory Lobo Jost | August 1, 2007 02:22 PM
I guessed 1957 only because the kids wore ties to school, not because I believe the days of such appalling institutionalized bigotry have passed.
One can hope that this travesty of justice will be corrected quickly, but I suspect it will have to wend its way through a hostile state system before it can get aired in federal court.
Posted by: B Tween | August 2, 2007 08:50 PM
This is a really horrible story, but it bothers me when black people hear news like this and then treat me like shit. I haven't ever done anything to any black person to deserve a snotty stare or an intimidating spirit towards myself or anything of the like. In my area, there is a school which is about 96% black, and if you are white they make you quack like a duck and call yourself a "stupid white bitch" every time you exit into the hallway or they give the promise to beat you up as they have the greater numbers. When a white person then tries to tell the staff about the problem, everyone is so scared of being called racist (even though I don't know HOW you would be called racist in that setting) that they hesitate to do anything and just give the kids the "indifferent slap on the wrist". I know that the suffering of black people is not comparable to white people, but it just bothers me when people can only imagine the suffering black person and never the racist black person. They can yell insults at me like "stupid white cracker" or "whitey" but if I reversed it with the same level "stupid black nigger" or "blacky" I would be found with fault (and, no, I've never called a black person those things, even in retaliation). I just want to help people realize it CAN go both ways.
Posted by: Morgan | August 3, 2007 04:07 PM
The story sounds very skewed especially without any details of the beatings. The black child that was beaten at the party could have been punched once, while the white kid ended up the hospital from a gag-beating is more how it seems from that vague description. I’m not taking either side, but it would be nice see more facts.
Posted by: Jackie Thomas | August 3, 2007 08:29 PM
Wow! This article really moved me and made me so angry at the same time. I can not believe all the wrongs that have and are being made in our own country today. This kind of stuff is supposed to be illegal in our country. if we dont stand together and be a team our country will fall apart. we are one nation. I am amazed that this is not all over the news. I am going to try and change that though. i am going to get it out there all that i can. The people of our country should know what is going on. Everyone who reads this should make this known as much as possible. I am.
Posted by: Erica M. | August 3, 2007 10:57 PM
just a few quick comments on the population breakdown:
10% of the united states' population is black, so the black population of jena is actually right on the national average.
if 1 out of 10 members of the council is black (10% of the council), then they are accurately represented.
if 1 out of 9 members of the school board is black, they are actually over-represented by 1.11% (1/9 is 11.11%).
this isn't to say that i approve of the racism, that is completely inexcusable.
Posted by: sam | August 6, 2007 05:15 AM
Sam,
Actually, according to the United States Census Bureau, blacks made up 12.7% of the population in 2000, a number projected to rise to 13.1% in 2010 (so it presumably stands at around 13% in 2007). Thus, in fact, Jena's council and school board are actually under-represented, not over-represented, as you suggest.
Moreover, even if such numbers were consistent with the nation's population breakdown, the fact that the council and school board each have only one black person means that blacks in Jena, like blacks in America, have little political power to address eggregious behavior towards their community. This is rarely the case for white people, who are not only almost always the majority, but also tend to be overrepresented in government and other positions of power. In theory, it is possible that Jena could have five blacks on the council and six on the school board, for instance --- but it doesn't, it has one on each.
The discussion about whether blacks are over or under represented by a few percentage points based on national figures is missing the point (unlike, for instance, the statistical significance of the overrepresentation of people of color in our prison system, or living in poverty, and the underrepresentation of people of color in positions of wealth and power). The point is that what is happening in Jena is blatantly racist, and part of the reason it can happen is because of an overwhelmingly white-dominated school board, council, school, police force, and court system. Even if these political centers of authority were overrepresented by blacks by 1 or 2%, as you incorrectly suggested, that would be irrelevant to the matter at hand.
Posted by: Ezekiel Edwards | August 7, 2007 12:50 AM
I agree. Every minority is under-represented. American is supposed to be about equal rights for all, when minoroty is actually filled with fear of being judged and penalized for a difference of oppinion. That is not freedom. Black People, Women, Muslims, anyone who may interfere in the white male's stereotype of a perfect society is definitely shunned for this.
Posted by: Agree | August 10, 2007 06:07 PM
Id like to comment on what morgan said. Stories like this really bother me as well. Coloured people always try to make out that the world is racist and against them. Go and moan about it at one of your yearly racist parties where you blame caucasians for racism even though coloured people invented it. This story represents a totally incorrect view and if anything coloured people are the most racist people of all. A black person can stride through a white community, maybe get stared at but if a white person walks through a black community they end up getting stabbed before making it out of the other side. I used to live near a black community as a child. The black community were far more racist and used to stone members of the white community even when they didnt violate their own communial area. If your caught advising a coloured person to return to their own community though instantly in their twisted mind thats more racist than killing someone because of their skin colour.
For the record im causcasian but i have coloured friends (including indian, african, etc). I have no issue with their skin colour whatsoever and they are of the small minority who arent racist and like myselves see the coin from both sides. I agree also that the caucasian community isnt helping through over compensation. In schools nowadays your not allowed to sing "baa baa black sheep" or call a blackboard that name, instead alternatives like chalkboard have to be used. This political correctness on terms never meant to be racist is actually more racially insulting to both parties.
Some misinformed people might say that the europeans and americans started racism through the slave trade in past history but when the slave trade "triangle" was operational racism played no part in it. In a nutshell it was because africa had a poor centralised goverment, very little censuses to keep track of citerzens and a harsh enviroment to deal with within a developing world.
At the end of the day the bias in this article is appalling and another fine example of racism agaisnt caucasians as several details seem to have been convenientally omitted .... I wonder why?? /end sarcasm
Posted by: Phill | August 12, 2007 09:41 AM
I would like to respond to Morgan and Phill. Morgan - I have to agree that it is wrong when black people are racist or retaliate on someone else's behalf, toward someone who did no wrong. It is just as bad as racism of white people. It really isn't fair how you have been treated and I am glad that you have chosen not to sink to their level. I think that you understand that they don't do that because they are black, but because they are stupid and racist.
Phill - you generalize too much. You are a racist despite having black friends; and your racism is probably partly caused by the overcompensation that your school makes; and I think you are right that this is wrong. You have to realize that the world is bigger than the black neighborhoods that happen to exist in your area. I know of middle-class black neighborhoods that are safe for people of any race. And I know of mostly white neighborhoods that are in poverty and that I don't feel safe in even as a white person (especially being middle class myself). Don't you think that poverty is a much better indicator of violence in a neighborhood than race? If you are a white person in a violent black neighborhood and you get stabbed, most likely this has nothing to do with racism - it has more to do with the fact that you stick out like a sore thumb as being naive that you are likely to attract people who want to steal from you.
The story above may be biased, but I think that much of it is true. The criminal justice system works, but only if you are not poor. But you don't have to get all defensive because you are white. The story isn't about how white people are prejudiced - it is about how there are many racist white people in a specific area and reminds us that racism still exists in society and government. It's okay - we're not blaming you - we're blaming the bad white people lol.
Posted by: George Glass | August 23, 2007 03:17 PM