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Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Jena 6


I am sure you have heard about the Jena 6 by now. I am simply furious and I can't keep silent anymore! The only thing I can think is the more things change the more they stay the same. What is happening in our world? Why do we have a world where nooses can be hung from a proclaimed "white tree" and when black students protest they are told it was only a prank, get over it.

Why can a District Attorney (white) accompanied by the town's police be allowed to demand from students to end their protest and telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen." (Of course) a series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. What???????? Now these 6 students are in a fight literally for their lives. Let's be clear. At the school when white students fought they were suspended or in a very rare case expelled but these students have been jailed for almost a year and are being charged with conspiracy to commit murder!

I am not trying to start a virtual race riot on my blog however I do want to use my blog as a tool for good. Not only to talk about adoption but to talk about issues that will affect the way we parent our children. As we all know sometimes our blogdom seems like a utopia but this world is nothing fair and our Ethiopian African American babies will have a lot to contend with.

So what can we do?

On September 20th everyone is being asked if they can get to Louisiana in support of Jena 6 to please do so. If you can't then buy a free Jena 6 T-Shirt or at a minimum wear black on that day.

Come on People...enough is enough! What type of world are we bringing our kids into. If we don't stand for something we will fall for anything. Tomorrow this could be our children sitting under "the white" tree. Selam.

6 comments:

hazel said...

I read about this yesterday and was outraged & sickened. (Polite) Words can not describe my disgust.

Here's another link where you can sign the petition & donate to the defense fund: http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/

Anonymous said...
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Shawn said...

Hey Tami,
I'm so glad you posted this on your blog. I ordered my shirt today!! It really is a misuse of power, and a modern day lynching going on in Jena. It's great you are exposing many to the travesty of justice going on down there. The website is colorofchange.com for those who want more information on the situation in Jena. Please support if you can.

Tasha Kent said...

Whoa... one post has the power to make 'anonymous' reconsider her adoption decision?!??! Talk about spineless.

I too am a blond (with the help of a bottle), single (whatevs) woman (although I can swear like a male trucker) in the adoption process. I think these discussions, topics and other current event issues are all important dialogue, not just for adoption, but for citizens in general. It's healthy, esp. if it's thought-provoking and emotion-generating stuff.

And for the sake of argument, let's say this blog is totally anti-green eyes.. why should it prevent others from adopting green eyed kids if that's what they want?? If that's the case, kudos to Tami for having incredible power over other people's thoughts and decisions.

Tracey said...

I swear it is still the 19th century in some of these places. I read a few months ago about a school that had its first ever integrated prom THIS YEAR (and of course it may not happen again as schools are rapidly resegegating, but i digress). It is too easy for those of us who live in liberal, urban areas to forget that this hatred and stupidity still exists in full force in some places. Good for you for getting the word out.

Leslie said...

Thank you so much for talking about this, Tami. It is really appalling, and by not bringing attention to injustice, we are in some way condoning it. Preparing to become a mother has made me so much more aware of wanting to make the world a better place for her and other children like her. But is overwhelming sometimes to realize how much there still is to do, how far we still have to go.