Jena 6

September 11. It has been 6 years now since the attacks. How many of us remember what they were doing when they heard of the attacks? I can still remember driving to work when I first heard the reports. Let us spare a thought for those that lost their lives in the attacks and those who are still feeling the impact with the loss of loved ones.

While America wages war on terror that was brought out so much into the spotlight 6 years ago, Osama still remains at large and American troops are still in Iraq. But on this anniversary of the attacks there is still another war being fought right here in the nation’s borders. In a small town in Louisiana called Jena there 6 black youths facing charges related to an attack on a white male in that town. Click here to view article by Newsweek. If you Google “Jena 6” you would find a barrage of articles, blogs, commentary and more on this.

The entire brouhaha started when some black kids sat under a tree that was unofficially “reserved” for the white students at the local school. The next day there were three nooses hanging from the tree that the school officials dismissed as a prank and handed out a three day suspension to the perpetrators. That triggered a series of events that included an attack by white students on black kids with a shotgun, a black kid being beaten up at a party, a white kid being attacked by some black kids that resulted in the black kids being hit with a slew of charges. One of those kids, known as the Jena 6 now sits in jail awaiting sentencing. As expected, black leaders around the nation are buzzing.

But as I sit back and ponder the developments regarding this Jena 6 story I can’t help but remember a Bob Marley song that starts like this: Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, this a war.

Not only is the war being fought in the courtroom and along social and racial lines, there is also the physical confrontations as the Newsweek story points out. Who would have thought that in today’s world we would still be faced with this type of battle?