It seemed from the news coverage that the whole world converged on Jena today. But this blog post really caught my attention. Alan Bean was, as far as I know, the first guy on this story. CNN gave him a photo credit for his photo of the “white tree” – and then promptly cut to Al Sharpton. Bean wrote -
When I showed up at Antioch Baptist church, I remembered the first organizing meeting when I was the only person from outside Jena in the room. This time, the church had been comandeered by VH1 and I was told I could not enter. Instead, Salt and Peppa (remember them) were inside interviewing the Jena 6 parents while fully uniformed members of the New Black Panther Party patrolled outside. It was a cartoon–something I didn’t particularly want to be associated with. I have no beef with these people–but why are they suddenly in charge? And why have the folks who stood by the families when no one else would listen been so rudely thrust aside. I know I’m not supposed to focus on these questions–but I have watched this movie before–in Tulia, Texas.
Whether or not you agree with Bean – and I don’t agree with him on every issue, not by a long shot – that’s just sad. I believe he is an honest and honorable man, devoting his life to what he sincerely thinks is right. And to be callously shut out of something that he has put so much time and energy into, and worked so hard to keep going, is wrong.
It’s striking to me that the outsiders, who have no stake in this community and only an abstract understanding of its racial and class dynamics, have made such a stink long after the legitimate criticism that the “attempted murder” charges were too harsh. As a general rule, if Al Sharpton is around, he’s grandstanding and increasing racial tension for his own narcissistic benefit.
I thought that Eddie Thompson’s compilation of facts–available at isteve.com–did a great deal to show some of the complexities of this story, i.e., the party incident involved none of the accused, all but one of the local black ministers supported the marchers and participated in their antics.
I’ll repeat the basic theme I’ve said before. Any calls to “Free the Jena Six” are morally abhorrent because they clearly committed a serious crime, beating someone to unconciousness, in front of thirty witnesses. Second, focusing on incidents such as these, like Ahab’s search for the Great White Whale, evidence an unhealthy preoccupation with white on black violence and racism when the more salient problem facing the black community is a breakdown of standards and pervasive black on black crime.
The way, I believe, to get justice in Jena is to get rid of Reed Walters. He has been DA for 16 years. Time for him to go! He will only cause more division and make life for all in Jena bad. Think about it, any adult that would tell a teenager, any teenager “I can end you life with a stroke of my pen” is not qualified to be dog catcher much less a district attorney. He is ignorant, racist and totally incompetent. He’s a wimpy looking man who by his words and behavior is probably overcompensating for other shortcomings. He is a disgrace to the people of Jena. This is a situation that I feel was blown way out of proportion and fueled by ignorant, racist adults of which I count DA Walters as one. The kids just got caught in the middle. Get rid of Reed Walters and start to heal!