The Jena 6: Exposing the Crazy Injustice System of America
Fifty years ago, national guards were called to escort nine African- American students into an all Caucasian high school. The integration of American schools marked a major civil rights milestone for people of color. It is rather unfortunate that on this very anniversary we are reminded that the undercurrent of the Jim Crow era has not disappeared. Demonstrations are being held all over the country, to protest the unjust prosecution of six young black men dubbed, “The Jena 6".
The chain of events that took place in Jena, Louisiana, exposed the inadequacies plaguing America’s criminal “justice” system. A system that has allowed black students to face life in prison for a campus brawl, while the acts of aggression initiated by their white counterparts go unpunished and are largely downplayed by authorities, is flawed. The case of Jena 6 not only reveals the racial based preferential nature of our justice system, but also shows how the lack of economic privilege can leave one extremely vulnerable to being engulfed by the prison industrial complex. Mychal Bell is a prime example of this. His family was unable to fund a lawyer, forcing him to rely on the assistance of an apathetic public defender. The assigned defender offered Mychal no solid defense; he failed to call any witnesses and allowed the trial to proceed with an all white jury. Mychal didn’t stand a chance. At 16 years old, he was tried as an adult, convicted of aggravated battery and faced up to 22 years in prison.
Not until the national attention and scrutiny of Mychal’s court handlings, was it determined that he should have in fact been tried in a juvenile court and that his initial conviction should be overturned. Although these new findings have been established, Mychal remains in an adult prison facility until his juvenile court hearing. He has remained unable to pay his $90,000.00 bail.
I do not believe that cases such as the Jena 6 exist in a vacuum, but are rather symptomatic of a society that we belong to. A society that is discriminatory based on race and socioeconomic background. It is crazy to think that 50 years after the integration of school campuses, battles for racial equality are still being fought.
The chain of events that took place in Jena, Louisiana, exposed the inadequacies plaguing America’s criminal “justice” system. A system that has allowed black students to face life in prison for a campus brawl, while the acts of aggression initiated by their white counterparts go unpunished and are largely downplayed by authorities, is flawed. The case of Jena 6 not only reveals the racial based preferential nature of our justice system, but also shows how the lack of economic privilege can leave one extremely vulnerable to being engulfed by the prison industrial complex. Mychal Bell is a prime example of this. His family was unable to fund a lawyer, forcing him to rely on the assistance of an apathetic public defender. The assigned defender offered Mychal no solid defense; he failed to call any witnesses and allowed the trial to proceed with an all white jury. Mychal didn’t stand a chance. At 16 years old, he was tried as an adult, convicted of aggravated battery and faced up to 22 years in prison.
Not until the national attention and scrutiny of Mychal’s court handlings, was it determined that he should have in fact been tried in a juvenile court and that his initial conviction should be overturned. Although these new findings have been established, Mychal remains in an adult prison facility until his juvenile court hearing. He has remained unable to pay his $90,000.00 bail.
I do not believe that cases such as the Jena 6 exist in a vacuum, but are rather symptomatic of a society that we belong to. A society that is discriminatory based on race and socioeconomic background. It is crazy to think that 50 years after the integration of school campuses, battles for racial equality are still being fought.
posted by Isha @ 11:52 PM
2 Comments:
At September 22, 2007 at 7:23 PM ,
La Professora said...
Out here in the West, a number of events that happen the rest of the country will not make sense. Like the fact that for one Southern school, last year was the first year that the school had a bi-racial/non-racial prom. Race shouldn't be a factor, but for some it still is. There are days when I'm actually serious about California becoming its own country. Then again, we're not perfect either.
At September 26, 2007 at 11:57 AM ,
'Q' said...
While racism may have a passive role in this tragedy, I do not believe it to be a primary driver. The biggest factor here is a flaw in the legal system itself which lends itself to economic bias. With econonic biases often falling along racial lines, the knee-jerk reaction is to scream racism, a term that I think should be used with caution. One must remember that we live in a capitalist based industrial democratic society. This means that there is a direct relationship with the laws, the creation of the laws, the execution of the law, and the wealthy establishment in this country. Thus the wealthy have built into the legal system protections for their wealth and person. This is consistent with the idea that "with capital we build capital", which is another way of saying "wealth has its priviledges." Yes the question still remains "why were all of the White youth only charged with a Misdemeanor" That "may" be more of an ethnocentrism or own race bias than racism. I think a more careful examination is required, meaning we should use only relavent documents (actual court testomony and police transcripts) when we re-account the events of this matter, and not just the popular media accounts of the event. My primary point being, if we call this a racially motivated problem when in fact it is a flaw in the legal system designed to protect the wealthy, the flaw in the legal system itself WILL BE OVERLOOKED and never corrected thus allowing for a similar type of event to repeat itself again although it may take another fifty years for it to manifest itself.
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