Help us find Annie
There is no Emmett Till among the "Jena Six" - UPDATE 2
SHAME on Al Sharpton, for even attempting to draw a parallel between the six unruly brats in Jena and anyone who was lynched, murdered, or even inconvenienced in the name of Civil Rights for blacks.
I am reluctant to link to TownHall columnists generally*, but I think nobody has explained better than John Hawkins how richly these six youngsters deserve punishment, and how justice cannot be served by allowing them to be tried under the more favorable rules of the juvenile justice system.
Hawkins' column is entitled What They Don’t Want You To Know About The Jena 6 Case.*N.B., I have not kept up with the commentary thread on this article, and my linking to it does not endorse the views of the people who habitually post there, only those of Hawkins.
UPDATE: Monroe, LA, September 29th
Now it appears that some nitwits at the Alma J. Brown elementary school (on the campus of Grambling University) decided to Put the Fear of Whitey in some innocent kindergartners. Read the story for yourself. It's disgusting.
I can't decide which of the following was worse:
the reckless endangerment of this little kid,
the hateful political indoctrination of such young children,
or the fact that neither of the two "adults" depicted here appears old enough to have any personal memory of institutionalized race discrimination, much less the horrific 1955 murder of Emmett Till.
One of the most shameful parts of the original struggle for school desegregation was the way adults put children in the middle of situations that no child should have to endure.
For example, here (at right) is how the children behaved themselves in 1955, when schools were integrated. The photo was taken at the Barnard school in Washington, DC.
While this one shows the shameful way that the adults behaved.
There is a special, extra-hot place in Hell reserved for adults who misuse children for their own political agendas. Ditto for those Jehovah's Witnesses who drag their toddlers with them, on their door-to-door harrassment escapades.
UPDATE #2 - October 6, 2007
The mayor of Jena has finally had his fill of the town's being mischaracterized as a hotbed of Jim Crow-ism, and I can't say that I blame him.
The most poignant part of the statement he issued yesterday was this:
"I do not want to diminish the impression that the hanging of the nooses has had on good people," McMillin wrote. "I do recognized that what happened is insulting and hurtful."
But, he said, "To put the incident in Jena in the same league as those who were murdered in the 1960s cheapens their sacrifice and insults their memory."
Good on ya, Mr. Mayor.