JENA 6

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

I am biased?
Prove it.

OK - this is pretty easy:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

IM NOT DIRECTLY AFFECTED?

Please.

Hey I have work 2 times as hard to make sure that what I say or what I do will not cause me to lose a job, lose my income and most of all lose my FREEDOM.


This event going on is Jena is nothing NOTHING but a direct reminder that things HAVE NOT changed.....hell, reading your cavalier comments are proof of that already!

I am a target and a statistic every day I walk out of my door.

I am a target and a statistic each time I go out in public because someone is waiting for another of us to ACT OUT to get us on the news as a homicide statistic, a drug user or in jail.

Everytime I go into a class room I lower one stat and barely push up another...because I am one of few who are educated.

Every year I get closer to 40 I do the same....I don't have a rack of kids being taken care of by child support and I am not incarcerated nor am I causing a woman to be on welfare.

Everyday I punch in at 730 and get home at 4pm the same because am not pushing up the unemployment rate.

I got two little nephews who are 3 and 4 I worry about because of the world they are coming into and thankfully THEY TOO are not statistics because GUESS WHAT....thier FATHERS are married to thier MAMAS and LIVING in the home.

But I am not directly affected...yeah ok...believe that dumb stuff if you want.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been pulled aside because "I fit the description" or been told that I need to "watch where I am going..." or been stopped and had an ID checked because I 'didn't belong here"

I mean, it's clear you're biased - in fact, all of us are.

Don't fight the label - just recognize it and work to make sure you try to see the other side. Just like you ask all the white people later in your post.

The issue is unequal application of justice, right? This has gone way beyond that, though, in my opinion - it has partially turned into a spectacle for a few interested parties to take to the soapbox. Whether they use this power for change or for their own self-service is to be seen, and none of us have any authority to say - only time can tell, unfortunately. However, I see no reason to discount the assertion that this may be getting attention for the wrong reasons, in some ways.

Also, shinerbock's point about "taking sides" and inconsistencies in viewpoint with the Durham DA malfeasance is striking - I really sympathize with the Jena kids, because they have strong opponents trying to screw them, but that point made me consider, for the first time, that for some people, it's no longer about what's right, but about what they want (or what makes them famous).

I hope both sets of kids serve the exact same punishment, in scope and degree, and people take an honest look at systems that are corrupt and bankrupt on race issues - not just the Jena schools and the LA legal system, but the way in which we all handle race, from myself to CNN.