See, this is what happens when folk –- Black folk –- get too comfortable.
Citing Jena –- which I did in a prior "Blogging Amerikkka" –- was only scratching the surface. To date, more than 30 –- THIRTY! –- reported incidents of noose hangings occurred throughout the country, with more sightings in view.
(Care to guess how many unreported "noose sightings" there have been around the country? Hmmmm. . .)
And if you're surprised, you haven't been paying attention to this country's history.
But what is it about NOW, about THIS TIME IN HISTORY, that makes folk so very comfortable wearing their Confederate shirts. . .hanging nooses. . .locking up Afrikan descendant children for incidents that are dismissed as "pranks" or "acting out" when white children are involved?
What is it about NOW that has bolstered the comfort level of a new generation of racial domestic terrorists intent on reeking havoc on those of Afrikan descent?
What is it about NOW that has emboldened "the white authority" to very bluntly declare open season on Black America with barely a ripple of sustained public outcry?
Many of us are comfortable in our gilded cages, with good jobs, houses, savings, and all the trappings of "success" in amerikkka.
But no matter what the trappings, no matter where you are on the "success" ladder, here is the "real deal" that we as A People must ponder as racial terrorism continues its surge in amerikkka. Let's learn the lessons from Jena. And the rise in noose hangings, if nothing else, remind us of the following (from "Underneath the Sacred White Tree" by Adar Ayira**):
In America there are towns
with plenty of Sacred White Trees
and a seat is reserved there
for everyone except
the ones who look like me
Branches ready for decoration with
21st Century Strange Fruit beckoning to me
with tightly knit knots of the deadly noose
While the town of Jena still claims
it doesn't know what the history of the noose means
they still knew enough to tie a noose of up high and very tightly
Underneath their Sacred White Tree
They know enough to continue to deny seats
to those who look like me
to arrest those who look like me
who just want to be free to sit in any spot, even up
Underneath their Sacred White Tree
Bob Marley spoke of One Love
but I wish you would tell me when will we love ourselves
what will it take, before we love ourselves enough
to stop assimilating into hate
Before we begin to love ourselves enough to become
the masters of our own fate or will we continue
holding out hope for change until change comes too late
Moving Forward,
Adar
**"Underneath the Sacred White Tree" can be heard on
Adar Ayira's poetry CD, "Baby, We Need to Talk" dropping soon!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
THE JENA SIX: AND THAT'S WHAT AMERIKKKA STANDS FOR. . .
Don’t let the surface emphasis on equality and multi-culturalism fool you.
What is happening in Jena, Louisiana gets to the very heart of amerikkka and its legal pathology of racism-white supremacy.
Six teens charged with attempted murder and conspiracy, prosecuted for a school yard fight with a white teenager who had joined in “racially motivated” (we need to call it what it is: white supremacist) gang attacks on them and their friends.
Charged with attempted murder and conspiracy even though the white teen was well enough to party that evening.
But even though those were the charges that the prosecutor -– representing the case of the STATE against those teens –- was able to make stick in a white supremacist landscape, let’s make no mistake about it:
The REAL “crime” with which those teens are being tried and convicted (as their conviction is not in doubt, even with the massive protest across the country) –- and which remains unspoken in public conversation but is understood by white men congregating in bars lamenting the fallen South as they nurse their beers and by white women dressed in their Sunday bests and by the white teenagers whom they raised -– is their AUDACITY.
That’s right, their audacity:
• to advocate for the rights of teenagers of Afrikan descent to sit under what had been known as “the white tree”
• to question the injustice of three nooses found hanging from the tree after their request became known and an Afrikan descendant student actually sat under the tree
• to defend themselves from beatings from white supremacist teenagers who wanted to send a message that racism-white supremacy is still the de facto law of the land in Jena, Louisiana
And, of course, they were right. Because those teens have been charged (one has been convicted of battery and faces up to 15 years in prison; the others are still awaiting trial) and have been convicted -– in the minds of most white folk residing in Jena Louisiana and many white folk across the country -– of the crime of continuing to fight injustice even after the same District Attorney who is prosecuting them showed up at their school and boldly declared that he would “ruin your lives with the stroke of a pen!”
And so he has. . .with the full support and encouragement of the state of Louisiana.
The sad thing is, we’ve seen this all before. We’ve been living it since the forced sojourn of Our Ancestors in this country.
Afrikan descendant political prisoners are nothing new; the history of this country is riddled with them, many unaccounted for and many whose sacrifices have been forgotten.
The two constants from the inception of this country to its present remain:
1) amerikkka still feels free to prosecute those of Afrikan descent for resisting racism-white supremacy with impunity and
2) we -– the Afrikan descendant community -– still remain too weak as a political force to stop them or to hold them fully accountable for doing so
Many in this country –- usually white, although there are plenty of Afrikan descendants sprinkled into that mix –- would have you believe that “racism is a thing of the past.” And for those who have the privilege to turn a blind eye to the racism-white supremacy that surrounds us, maybe it is.
But for the rest of us who live in a country STILL addicted to the pathology of racism-white supremacy and not looking to join a 12-step program anytime soon, I say to you:
Anyone of Afrikan descent who believes and teaches their children that this country is interested in ridding itself of it’s “original sin” -- racism-white supremacy -- and affording its Afrikan descendant population the same rights, liberties, and “equal protection” that its white citizenry enjoy is not only seriously delusional, but genocidal.
The biggest lie upon which this country was built and on which those who would deny that racism-white supremacy is the mother’s milk of this nation is this:
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness.
(From the Declaration of Independence)
Tell that to the Jena Six.
SUPPORT THE JENA SIX!!!! NEXT TIME, IT COULD BE YOU!
Moving Forward,
Adar
What is happening in Jena, Louisiana gets to the very heart of amerikkka and its legal pathology of racism-white supremacy.
Six teens charged with attempted murder and conspiracy, prosecuted for a school yard fight with a white teenager who had joined in “racially motivated” (we need to call it what it is: white supremacist) gang attacks on them and their friends.
Charged with attempted murder and conspiracy even though the white teen was well enough to party that evening.
But even though those were the charges that the prosecutor -– representing the case of the STATE against those teens –- was able to make stick in a white supremacist landscape, let’s make no mistake about it:
The REAL “crime” with which those teens are being tried and convicted (as their conviction is not in doubt, even with the massive protest across the country) –- and which remains unspoken in public conversation but is understood by white men congregating in bars lamenting the fallen South as they nurse their beers and by white women dressed in their Sunday bests and by the white teenagers whom they raised -– is their AUDACITY.
That’s right, their audacity:
• to advocate for the rights of teenagers of Afrikan descent to sit under what had been known as “the white tree”
• to question the injustice of three nooses found hanging from the tree after their request became known and an Afrikan descendant student actually sat under the tree
• to defend themselves from beatings from white supremacist teenagers who wanted to send a message that racism-white supremacy is still the de facto law of the land in Jena, Louisiana
And, of course, they were right. Because those teens have been charged (one has been convicted of battery and faces up to 15 years in prison; the others are still awaiting trial) and have been convicted -– in the minds of most white folk residing in Jena Louisiana and many white folk across the country -– of the crime of continuing to fight injustice even after the same District Attorney who is prosecuting them showed up at their school and boldly declared that he would “ruin your lives with the stroke of a pen!”
And so he has. . .with the full support and encouragement of the state of Louisiana.
The sad thing is, we’ve seen this all before. We’ve been living it since the forced sojourn of Our Ancestors in this country.
Afrikan descendant political prisoners are nothing new; the history of this country is riddled with them, many unaccounted for and many whose sacrifices have been forgotten.
The two constants from the inception of this country to its present remain:
1) amerikkka still feels free to prosecute those of Afrikan descent for resisting racism-white supremacy with impunity and
2) we -– the Afrikan descendant community -– still remain too weak as a political force to stop them or to hold them fully accountable for doing so
Many in this country –- usually white, although there are plenty of Afrikan descendants sprinkled into that mix –- would have you believe that “racism is a thing of the past.” And for those who have the privilege to turn a blind eye to the racism-white supremacy that surrounds us, maybe it is.
But for the rest of us who live in a country STILL addicted to the pathology of racism-white supremacy and not looking to join a 12-step program anytime soon, I say to you:
Anyone of Afrikan descent who believes and teaches their children that this country is interested in ridding itself of it’s “original sin” -- racism-white supremacy -- and affording its Afrikan descendant population the same rights, liberties, and “equal protection” that its white citizenry enjoy is not only seriously delusional, but genocidal.
The biggest lie upon which this country was built and on which those who would deny that racism-white supremacy is the mother’s milk of this nation is this:
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness.
(From the Declaration of Independence)
Tell that to the Jena Six.
SUPPORT THE JENA SIX!!!! NEXT TIME, IT COULD BE YOU!
Moving Forward,
Adar
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