I am fascinated by the current issue of the so-called 'Jena Six' in Louisiana. I was a teenager and young adult during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. And, I believe, that movement was based on non-violence, inspired by Ghandi's passive resistance to British colonal rule in India. I was inspired by Martin Luther King for that very reason. And, in my own participation in demonstrations against war and discrimination against homosexual people, I was determined to practice non-violence. It was not easy.
Now we have a movement to exonerate young hoodlums who chose violence and vengeance to settle a racist conflict with other students in their high school. The ring leader, Mychal Bell, reportedly had a previous criminal record. I cannot see the point of the African American outrage in this incident. Is it not equally racist to demand a different enforcement of the laws on the basis of race when the perpetrator happens to have darker skin than the victim? After all, this was a gang assault by six boys on one boy, who was significantly injured. Is that not also a hate crime?
The issue here is not racism. The issue here is lawfulness and peacefulness. How can the African American community support lenience in this case when, at the same time, they are screaming for more and more 'support' from the society at large in the form of tax money and logistics to squash gang violence in their urban communities? Perhaps we now have a clearer view of the roots of gang violence in African American communities. Perhaps those roots are in the attitudes of the members of the African American communities toward gangs, lawlessness and vengeance among their own youngsters.
To have peace, one must practice peace. To have the rule of law, one must practice lawful behavior. These are principles more worthy of mass demonstrations in all racial communities.
