Revolution #104, October 14, 2007
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Jena: The Victory, the Backlash and the Battle to Be Won
On September 27—one week after tens of thousands protested in Jena to demand the Jena 6 be freed—Mychal Bell was finally released from jail. One of six Black youth facing years in prison for standing up to racism, Bell had been UNJUSTLY locked up for over nine months. UNJUSTLY charged and tried by an all-white jury. UNJUSTLY convicted in a trial where no witnesses were called on his behalf. UNJUSTLY denied bail, even after his conviction was overturned. And Bell is now UNJUSTLY being kept on home confinement and forced to wear a monitoring device on his ankle. The fact that Mychal Bell is no longer behind bars is a real victory for the people—an accomplishment due solely to the fact that people have stood up in a massive way to demand a STOP to the prosecution of the Jena 6. But this struggle is FAR FROM OVER.
Even before all the buses of protesters had left Jena, a racist backlash jumped out. White racists repeatedly drove by with nooses hanging from the back of their pickup truck. White supremacist websites put up racist, hateful slurs about the Jena 6 case and posted the names, phone numbers, and addresses of family members of the Jena 6, aimed at inciting racist vigilantes to take action. Family members of the Jena 6 started getting threatening phone calls. New racist bathroom wall graffiti and threats against the Jena 6 appeared at the high school. All this underscores that an important part of this struggle is to resist such threats and protect the Jena 6 and their families from any retaliation and harm.
Justin Barker, the white student the Jena 6 are accused of beating up, and his parents gave an interview to the editor of a white supremacist publication. The paper’s editor also interviewed Jena’s mayor, Murphy McMillin, telling him he “would like to arrange to set aside some place for those opposing the colored folks,” to which McMillin said, “I am not endorsing any demonstrations, but I do appreciate what you are trying to do.”
These attacks on the Jena 6 have been accompanied by stepped-up official efforts to pave the way for prosecuting the Jena 6—spearheaded by the racist District Attorney Reed Walters. This is the same DA who has been on the scene, set on enforcing white supremacy from the get. This is the DA who in the very beginning, threatened Black students who protested the nooses. This DA is set on prosecuting Bell in juvenile court. And he has gone on a major offensive in the media in recent weeks. He has been given major air time and space in newspapers (like the op-ed page of the New York Times) to present his WRONG and RACIST version of this case and to create public opinion against the Jena 6. He is being widely quoted in the media, spreading the lie that this case is not about race, that it has nothing to do with the nooses being hung, that it is just about getting justice for the so-called “victim,” Justin Barker.
This is a concerted attempt to cover up the TRUTH of this case. A blatant effort to wipe away and deny the very reason this case has touched a nerve among millions of Black people all over this country. Reed Walters wants to wipe away, with the stroke of his pen, the real facts of this case: A “whites-only tree.” Nooses. Blatant, racist, double standards of so-called courtroom “justice.” A vicious KKK defense of the so-called “victim.”
Reed Walters continues to insist this case is not about racism. And this alone shows where he is coming from—that he is prosecuting the Jena 6 as an enforcer of white supremacy. And this is why no one should believe anything he has to say about this case.
The People Demand REAL Justice
The people must demand real justice—and nothing less! And this means the struggle must be built and go on until ALL the charges are dropped and the Jena 6 are free.
“FREE THE JENA 6!” has become a mass demand of people all around the country. Now, in the wake of the powerful manifestation of this demand on September 20—and the racist backlash and continuing efforts by the system to prosecute the Jena 6, this struggle must become even bigger, broader, and more determined; it must NOT STOP until all the charges are dropped and all six of these young men are freed. Anything less than this will not be real justice.
Many people have pointed out that this case shows how the U.S. court system is racist, that the law is applied unequally and unfairly, especially when it comes to Black youth. This is indeed true. And the whole way Black youth are railroaded in the courts is a big part of the whole future this system has in store for millions of Black youth—a hopeless future of unemployment, low-wage jobs, police brutality and murder, and prison.
But this battle cannot be about the Jena 6 getting a “fair trial.” THEY SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN CHARGED TO BEGIN WITH. THEY SHOULD NOT EVEN BE ON TRIAL. AND THE PEOPLE MUST PREVENT THEM FROM SPENDING ONE SECOND IN JAIL FOR THE “CRIME” OF STANDING UP AGAINST RACISM.
The whole reason tens of thousands of people have been moved to actively get involved in this struggle is because it is about something much bigger than a schoolyard fight in which “the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.” NO. This is NOT about, as some people say, even some who are part of the struggle, giving the white students and Black students equally appropriate punishment. There has been grossly unequal so-called “justice” in this case exactly because it is about much more than a “schoolyard fight.” And the people cannot settle for anything less than ALL the charges against ALL the Jena 6 being dropped. Calling for something like “equal punishment” for racists and those who stood against racism makes no distinction between right and wrong. And the view that “if you’re going to charge one, then charge the other,” when you get right down to it, ends up accepting the terms of Reed Walters’ LYING argument that this is not about racism, that the prosecution of the Jena 6 has no connection to the hanging of the nooses and other racist attacks by white students.
For all those of all nationalities who hate racism, there is a moral imperative to GET INVOLVED in this struggle. You can’t sit this one out! The whole context, all the events leading up to the Jena 6 being arrested, is not irrelevant. In, fact you can’t understand what this case is all about unless you step back and look at the larger context of the oppression of Black people in this country—and how it manifests itself on a daily basis. And this is what people have to confront and then fight against.
Tens of thousands of Black people came from all over the country to Jena, exactly because they have a real sense that this is not just about what’s happening in Jena. And they are right. It’s the whole thing—the way this system chews up so many Black and other minority youth, and everything else the system has been bringing down on people for years and years and more. And it’s a fact: the only thing that has prevented these young men from being totally railroaded already and that has won some beginning concessions, has been the power of the people in struggle. Millions of people are outraged at the prosecution of the Jena 6. Tens of thousands have felt compelled to act to stop this great injustice. And the whole situation of racism, segregation and the KKK running amok has gotten millions of people questioning WHY things like this are still going on. As one t-shirt worn in Jena on September 20 said, we need to “Get to the root of the problem.”
This underscores the importance of getting this newspaper out far and wide. It not only tells the real story of the Jena 6—it breaks down why it happened and why things like this keep happening. It puts things in the light of the whole society that so badly cries out for revolution. It gives people crucial insights, like Bob Avakian’s series on national oppression: “The Oppression of Black People and the Revolutionary Struggle to End All Oppression”—which are great articles to bring into classroom discussions.
As people are lifting their heads, taking up the struggle to free the Jena 6, feeling the power of the people—this paper needs to get out to the high schools, the places where people work and live and hang out. Get people together and watch the DVD of Bob Avakian’s speech, “Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, and What It’s All About.” People’s outrage, as well as their joy for what was accomplished with the September 20 demonstrations must be given further political expression. The struggle to free the Jena 6 should be one big part of October 22—the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. And as we continue to build the struggle to free the Jena 6, let’s spread the idea of revolution.
The people must stop, through mass political action, this violent enforcement of white supremacy and prevent yet another case of Black youth disappearing into the system’s dungeons. There are real stakes in this struggle. There is a real battle to WIN. For justice, for the futures of the six young men in Jena and the youth more generally, and over what kind of society this is going to be. The Jena 6 must be freed. And all this must become part of a growing revolutionary movement.
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