In Tuesday’s issue of the Star Tribune, I read an article about the town of Jena, Louisiana. This story is an example of how racist the U.S. has continued to be. If you take the time to read this story, there’s a good chance you’ll come out feeling sad. The Jena Six is a blatantly racist case that got 6 high school aged boys in deep trouble. There was a fight on school grounds in which a white student got beat up by six black students, which consequently ended in court, where five out of the six boys were tried as adults. However, the fight did not erupt out of thin air. A few months earlier there was an incident where a group of black students were unintentionally standing under a tree where a group of white students regularly hung out. Much to their surprise a day or so after, the white students had hung nooses from the trees, which only resulted in a three days suspension from school.
This story saddens me the most because there are children still be being brought up to think that just because someone’s skin is black, it means that they’re a lesser person. I can’t imagine that it is just the parent’s fault. Half the time kids don’t even listen to their parents anyway. It would leave me disgusted to find out that the children in these schools weren’t being taught properly of all the history of racism and all the hard work and bravery that lead to equality for all people.
The Jena Six also makes me sad because I have come to accept that the term “equality,” when talking about race, isn’t entirely perfect yet. However, I figured that the reason for that was because some of the people who run the country as of now, were brought up to think that black people aren’t as “high up” as white people, which isn’t okay but it is pretty much unchangeable. I had high hopes for my generation to really fix the problem for good. It has become evident that it may not be my generation who tackles this mess in the way it requires.
