Friday, September 21, 2007
Jena 6
Pam musing over at House Blend on why the Jena 6 story never got much attention in the big progressive blogs. Interesting discussion, & she's hesitant to slam anyone, classy gal that she is. Although there's a case to be made against Daily Kos. There's so many diaries posted on Kos that there's really no excuse why so few dealt with the Jena situation after it began appearing at the edges of MSM news. But I happen to think the most typical Kossites are middle class white guys who were hooked on Risk as kids. As grownups, they are nearly mirror counterparts to the middle class white guys on the conservative blogs. In their fantasies they make strategic decisions, move armies around, hire & fire generals & cabinet secretaries, manage campaigns for president & senate, issue executive commands, & call for the firing of any dissenters in the news media. Of nooses hung from "white only" trees & 16 year old black teenagers charged & tried as adults in rural Louisiana, that's too local. It's like running for town council or stopping a new Walmart or joining "Friends of the Library" or (gasp!) volunteering for a church committee. They'll be backpedaling now that this formerly provincial matter galvanzied the outrage of just about every Black American.
My excuse? None. I've been reading the Associated Press stories for months. But I take a rather off-handed approach to current events here, & my readership is very small. I don't think it's the start of a new civil rights movement. The leading presence of Al & Jesse & the deep South location gave the demonstration a nostalgic air for generations too young to have marched with Dr. King. Solidarity is good. Nothing in recent memory was more overtly & destructively racist than how the Executive Branch of our federal government reacted to New Orleans after Katrina, & it's still going on, too. With that terrible example at the top, how could it not embolden bigots in the muck at the bottom?
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
My excuse? None. I've been reading the Associated Press stories for months. But I take a rather off-handed approach to current events here, & my readership is very small. I don't think it's the start of a new civil rights movement. The leading presence of Al & Jesse & the deep South location gave the demonstration a nostalgic air for generations too young to have marched with Dr. King. Solidarity is good. Nothing in recent memory was more overtly & destructively racist than how the Executive Branch of our federal government reacted to New Orleans after Katrina, & it's still going on, too. With that terrible example at the top, how could it not embolden bigots in the muck at the bottom?
Labels: in the news
