Executive Director Alan Bean wrote this three-part reflection after participating in the September 20th rally for justice in Jena, Louisiana. Alan concludes that a new civil rights movement was gaining traction in Jena on September 20th, 2007. But that movement will look totally different from the spectacle that America saw on CNN.
We’ve broken up this reflection on the September 20th protests into three parts:
Part 1: Premonitions of a Movement | Part 2: Sowing the Wind | Part 3: Looking to the Future
Part 3: Looking to the Future
A squat young white boy with a precocious goatee was holding forth for the crowd as I left the premises. “I was still in Jr. High when this here all happened,” he was saying, “so I didn’t see it. But it’s all about this white kid named Justin. He’s a big racist; hates black people. Why, two days before he got himself beat up, he pulled a shotgun on a couple of black boys right here in Jena.”
The kid had his facts all tangled up. Justin Barker, the victim of the December 4th assault, was arrested for bringing a firearm to school in his vehicle—but that was in May of 2007. A white young man did pull a shotgun on Robert Bailey and two of his friends—but it wasn’t Barker.
Justin Barker is just another victim of Reed Walters’ pen. Justin may have taunted Mychal Bell and his friends prior to being assaulted—he may even have used the n-word. But violence wasn’t the answer. Justin attended a ring ceremony later in the day; but his injuries were serious. Moreover, the emotional consequences for Justin and his family have been horrendous. They have suffered every bit as much as the black defendants and their families.
It was sad to see Justin Barker and his family line up behind Reed Walters and a clutch of police officers the day before the rally. Mr. Walters is no friend of the Barker family, and his is no friend of Jena. He is a pathetic shill for a political establishment dedicated to the maintenance of Jim Crow inequality. The final victim of Mr. Walters’ pen will be his career as a prosecutor.
I am encouraged to read that Craig Watkins, the new District Attorney of Dallas County, has expressed concern over Reed Walters professional deportment. Several men and women from the Dallas District Attorneys office made the trip to Jena as observers. We need prosecutors who are tough but fair. Watkins fits the bill; Walters does not.
Rumors spread like a prairie fire when little towns like Jena find themselves under the media microscope. Everyone was convinced that the KKK were going to march on September 20th. Later in the day, a rumor swept through town that Mychal Bell had been released from prison. Fortunately, the KKK waited for the crowds to leave. Unfortunately, Mychal Bell is still incarcerated.
The day ended with a Hip Hop concert at the park organized by some of the family members. Artists from across Louisiana drove to Jena to show their support for the Jena 6. The NAACP of Louisiana did its level best to shut down the Hip Hop venue. They were concerned about the n-word, the f-word, and all the rest. The event received little publicity. If the Hip Hop generation is going to take the lead in this new civil rights movement, socially conscious Hip Hop music has got to be front and center.
An event this peaceful, positive, and exuberant was bound to inspire backlash from some of our sick white brothers and sisters. Trucks were driving around Alexandria (about 45 minutes down the road from Jena) sporting nooses. The intent was to spark violence. It didn’t work. Anyone disciplined enough to make it to Jena was too savvy to fall for an ignorant provocation like that.
Later, things grew more sinister. A white supremacy web site has published the addresses and phone numbers of the defendants, their families, attorneys and supporters. David Duke has come out in support of Justin Barker—another friend the family doesn’t need. Since almost 70% of LaSalle Parish voters supported Duke’s run for Governor back in the day, David felt it was his duty to ride to their defense.
Mr. Walters; when David Duke and the Klan are your best friends, you have a PR problem.
Please continue to pray for the Jena 6 and their families. Also pray for Justin Barker and his family. And pray for the people of Jena—white and black. When the celebrities leave and the reporters pack up their cameras, these folks have got to find a way to live together. Let’s keep our protest focused, fact-based, and objective. Jena is America. America is broken and badly needs fixing. So does Jena. The New Jim Crow is the sickness; justice is the cure.
Friends of Justice 
I am praying for the Jena Six. It is very sad to see what is happening as far as the division in regards to race. Watching the lack of justice taking place with juveniles was reminiscence of the south in 1964 when the three civil rights workers were brutally murdered by the klan and four little girls attending church. The lack of justice was just as blatant and obvious as the lack of justice today. One reason is because people in America, especially African Americans are being indoctrinated to believe that Osama Bin Laden is their enemy and his organization are the terrorist. Terrorism is accepted by the U.S. government as long as the terrorists are white and resemble the U.S. government’s family members. It is time for African Americans to face the harsh reality that the Klan and oppressive white Americans are a bigger threat to them and their families than Osama Bin Laden and middle eastern men labeled terrorist by racist whites. The whites that terrorized African Americans during the time the three civil rights workers were brutally murdered along with the four little girls in the church all were employed with the criminal justice system or had afiliations.