Despite the lack of national coverage concerning the Jena 6 students, there is an emerging black power movement in the United States that is growing in size and in consciousness. The fight to win the freedom of the Jena 6 is of critical importance and represents more than the six young men in Louisiana. The Jena 6 represent a underlying structural issue that perpetuates racist judicial policies and discrimination at every level of our society. Racism touches all of our lives. From the under-funding of public schools in poorer neighborhoods, to the lack of universal health care, to Katrina, it is clear that the struggle for black liberation is far from over. Black communities are not the only group that have experienced the consequences of this unjust system. Muslims and people of Arab descent have been subjected to torture, discrimination, intimidation and illegal detention. The recent backlash against immigrants, proposals for deportation and the criminalization of immigrants has begun to run deep within the political mainstream. What's even more disturbing is that politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, have been implicit in using white middle-class fears of gays, immigrants and Muslims for political capitalization.
Only racism can explain away the fact that our government continues to support a war that has displaced millions of people in Iraq and the deaths of over 600,000 people. This is a reality. A reality that was only accepted when our leaders were able to convince us that the people of Iraq are more violent, different and alien in their way of life and thus deserving of this devastating violence used against their people by our government.
Despite these hard times, a new generation, which includes many students, and youth are leading social movements for a more just and democratic society. Their analyst is a breath of fresh air into the political left. It's an understanding that racism is systematic, that it is blatant, but often underlying in nature. Racism is understood to be interconnected with the demands for economic, LGBT, Women, immigrant and labor rights.
Blacks and immigrants have seen the power of group economics and have increasingly used boycotts and strikes as a means of forcing the predominantly white congress into listening to their demands for equality.
Martin Luther King III and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Al Sharpton and others recently declared that the system is failing in the U.S. and are calling for a rally and protest for a Nov. 16 march on the Justice Department in Washington.
This statement by Athens SDS (Students for Democratic Society) members is a public acknowledgment that racism is a continuing oppressive force within our society and our daily lives. Like most forms of oppression, it has merely adapted to different times and circumstances as means of survival and popular acceptance.
Injustice is colorblind, has no gender, no sex, no class, no nationality. It's a threat to all of our rights because it is a threat to our collective dreams for a free and just society. Black, gay, white, brown, straight, citizen, non-citizen, our liberation concerns us all. We are all the Jena 6 in solidarity and struggle.
Alexander Wang, Tom Ogilvie, Anthony Fantozzi, Emily Maiorana, Will Klatt, Jared Kurzawa, Olivia Dawson, Emilee Brightman, Paul Loomis, Trent Rissover, Alex Kessler, Eric Miller, Andrea Otto, Jonathan Lucas, Eric Osborn, Hank Koehler and Sam Proctor are members of Students for a Democratic Society.
17 Archives
Letter to the Editor
