A Bright White Light
I’m not surprised that White Jena residents are beginning to push back against the narrative that the Jena Six is proof of racism. I am surprised that anybody is giving their wildly biased accounts even the remotest credibility. Anybody with even a passing knowledge of the history of the American South would recognize these pieces for what they are. Historically, White southerners have been near-pathological in their denial of racism in their midst — secure in the knowledge that any account they gave would be accepted because the alternative meant believing Black people. This is how we are supposed to believe (among other things) that a high school student in Louisiana wouldn’t know that a noose has racial history, that Blacks and Whites have “always been” living together in harmony (before outside rabble-rousers began making trouble, presumably). This is why we are supposed to accept the well-publicized threat the DA gave to Black students as a “myth”, simply because the DA denies it! It’s White privilege stripped bare, nothing more.
10 Responses to “A Bright White Light”
After spending some time in central Alabama(Anniston) I will claim that the South has made greater gains against racism than much of the North(Michigan and midwest). But the history of Southern racism (statutory Jim Crow) is truly uglier than the Northern racism(defacto Jim Crow). But a noose in a “whites only tree” is like a swastika at a synagogue.
The story the papers covered was written by the defence team of “the Jena 6″. It was not investigated by anyone. Now as time passes people are looking into the story. While “white people always lie about racism” may be a compelling argument to you I have issues with that being the big rebuttal to an article written by a reported from that town. You know, someone who actually knows the place. Your paraphrase of his arguments are really not accurate and don’t reflect what he wrote, but rather your end conclusion of the legitimacy of the statement. This is not the only story out there that conflicts with the “known” version of things. Here is a Kansas city.com story where they reporter actually interviewed the “Author” of the Jena 6 story, Alan Bean.
And
And this really cracked me up
But I’m sure it’s just another wildly biased account right?
Rudi: While I agree that its easy to understate racism in the north and midwest, I presume we can also agree that the south has made greater strides because it started from a significantly worse origin?
Bones: Just because our local reporter doesn’t admit his biases doesn’t mean they’re not present. In at least three “myths”, he provides no evidence that the Black story is mythological aside from asserting that Whites (or White eyewitnesses) deny it. In at least two more, he makes unverifiable assertions (that White students don’t know the history behind the noose, and that Whites and Blacks have hitherto lived in harmony) that strain credulity to the breaking point — the only possible way I could accept those assertions in the wake of overwhelming evidence (and intuition) to the contrary is by adopting a “White is right” standard. And of course, at least one “myth” is, by his own admission, true: Bell was convicted by an all-White jury.
I’m reading this article next to primary and secondary source material from places like Louisiana in the 1960s where the exact same arguments are being deployed to justify racism and brutality. They are literally indistinguishable. I’m not sure why we should give them any more credence now then we did then. Unless we just assume that White people are more trustworthy, objective, or rational than Blacks as a default.
David – I’m from the Detroit area. Detroit had two serious race riots and a history of racism. Growning up in the white suburbs I can tell you that racism is just as bad in Detroit. Warren(Michigan) “white trash” mayor made headlines acouple years back in a fight with a black teen over his daughter or a friend. He used the “n word” and then claimed to have said “bigger” not n*gger. The city of Dearborn also had a mayor(Hubbard) 30 or 40 years ago who belonged in in South. Younger people in the Detroit area show inprovemnets, but those who grew up from 1950-1980 are just as racist as their brethen in the South.
I have to agree with Rudi about the Detroit area. I live in the metro Detroit area and it’s EXTREMELY segregated. Black Detroit vs. White Suburbia. And that’s no exaggeration. It’s quite nasty around here. I have from Louisiana and they just call this area “Sophisticated Bigotry”.
I’m not trying to minimize northern racism, I’m really not. And believe me, I’m well aware of the appalling racial climate in Detroit and other northern cities. Which is what makes the fact that things were, in fact, worse in Mississippi and Alabama and Louisiana all the more amazing.
I think there is a tendency to try and exile racism to just the old confederacy, and that’s a massive mistake. But, notwithstanding incredible racism up north, it remains true that there was and is and unique racial climate down south, and that’s the “baseline” from which they’ve been showing improvement from.
David have you lived in the south? You know it’s not one big location. There is no baseline on anything “in the South”. Every area has different issues and some areas were and are very racist. Many were not and are not to this day. In many ways racism was worse in the northern cities than it was in the south at least in the last 40 years. The influx of African Americans to the cities to get industrial jobs caused much concern hate and fear that still hangs on to this day. Regardless of what anyone believes is the state of racism in the US, or even Jena in particular, the lack of objectivity in the case of the Jena 6 does need to be mentioned. You speak of the reporters lack of objectivity but what of your own.
Actually I think what was written was (mind you since you made blanket statements without specifying I’m guessing which one’s you refer to)
And maybe this
In this article the race of the witnesses were not mentioned you obviously assumed that they must of been white. Since the town is majority white they may well have been, but the automatic assumption that if only white people saw it then it can’t be trusted shows an incredible bias. Sure there could be serious race problems between some groups in Jena, but there has been no evidence at all that should cause anyone to believe that totally unassociated people on the street would lie to protect their fellow “whites”. As an aside the article I linked to shows more than a little reason that people should be sceptical. The press has reported as fact the statements released by the defence. This is what was put out to try and keep these kids out of jail. Could it be true, of course. But not being willing to give any other scenario a possibility, declaring any challenge bias because it contradicts those claims, and from a white guy, is really sad. And David it’s not 1960
Bones, there is a lot of evidence that Whites will lie simply to protect other Whites (or a White supremacist culture). It’s called the whole of American southern history. This was common-place; any history of the region (by which I mean the old confederacy — certainly “deep south” states like Louisiana) will verify it. Perhaps things have changed, but the burden is on those whose conduct is alleged to have shifted — I reject the idea that racism can end by “proclamation alone.” (And you missed the main “myth” that was supported solely by the declaration of a White guy — the circumstances surrounding the DAs threat, which was mythologized entirely on basis of the DAs denial).
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I’m willing to lay it down that we’ve got a duck in front of us.
David your main myth is not supported by one white guy. It basically has never been directly contradicted by anyone who was there. Anyone black or white. The DA never denied the threat, just that it was taken out of context and to all the students not to just the Jena 6 as first implied or to the “Black” section of the student assembly. Rather that the comment arose because of 3 white girls who were on their cell phones and were not paying attention. That mythologized (come on) event was created by one man Alan Bean not by any mass, or even multiple, reports so when there are multiple people calling those statements into questioning then calling reports of those statements biased without even trying to check the veracity is negligent at best. I have tried in the main to stick with comments about facts and reports ect. The main basis of your conclusion seems to be whites in the south must be racist so everything is suspect. Based on your vast knowledge of the south you know that no white person would ever tell the truth if it involved taking the side of a black person. I missed where anyone proclaimed racism dead but your lack of reality as to any other possibility but what was written by the defence team and designed to try and get the Jena 6 out of jail (what about that fact? That the facts presented have been a script without any investigation by the media) is naive and insulting not to mention negligent.
T Steel are you familiar with St. Clair Shores Robeson area near the city golf course. In the past “blacks” were allowed in as long as lived in a little ghetto. Other cities in Macomb were even worse. Did this have something to do with Reagan Democrats in Macomb county?