The Observer, October 12, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 7
Unpopular Reason: Jena Six should not be freed
Of late, media and public attention has been fixed around the Jena Six. Even here at Case, where political activism is seemingly limited, a large demonstration took place, calling for the Jena Six to be freed. Unfortunately, the outrage many hold is not reasonable or derived from an objective consideration of facts. In the Duke rape case, we saw the innocent being vilified, but here we see monsters being treated as victims. It is all quite sickening.
When people speak of the Jena Six, they are often quick to bring up the fact that nooses were hung from a tree after a few black students sat there. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that this falls quite a bit short of being justification for near-lethal assault. Like it or not, bigotry exists, and expression of it is legal. Kicking in the skull of an already unconscious individual is not. Whatever he may have said to provoke it and whatever ill will may have been left over from the noose incident do not award these six delinquents carte blanche. Unless any of them were physically assaulted by their victim, and none were, they had no right to beat the white student.
Last week, there was anti-Semitic graffiti spray painted on the Spirit Wall. And the week before it, two anti-Semitic authors were invited to speak on campus. Did our school's Jewish community respond in violence? No. There was some vocal objection to both through editorials, and an organized repainting of the Spirit Wall, but nobody was ever assaulted as a consequence of either incident of bigotry. Everybody remained level-headed and calm, as the Jena Six ought to have. Discrimination is never something to celebrate, but at the same time, it isn't justification for nearly murdering somebody.
If the racial roles were reversed, with the Jena Six being white, and the victim black, you can bet there would be far fewer people defending the Jena Six. Do you think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be there condemning the arrest of those who committed the assault? The Jena Six case has been hijacked by such figures, who are bent on making everything a matter of race while simultaneously playing victim, in spite of the fact that those they are defending were the aggressors. The Jena Six case should have been handled like a standard criminal prosecution. Instead, when a handful of activists decided to play the race card, we got worked up into frenzy and lost sight of the matter. Now, instead of focusing on justice, we're expending our efforts on trying to excuse lynch-mob justice by six hoodlums. This isn't right, and it isn't rational.
Caleb Posner is a freshman political science major.
