Saturday, September 22, 2007

Demonizing the victim. . . the American way?

Damn. I knew it wouldn't be long before the man started trivializing the events that precipitated the protests in Jena, LA this past week. It was only a matter of time before "questions" began creeping into the mix and someone decided that the justice handed out in those backwoods of LA wasn't THAT bad. Here's te start of it:

Black and white becomes gray in La. town
By TODD LEWAN, AP National Writer
JENA, La. - It's got all the elements of a Delta blues ballad from the days of Jim Crow: hangman's nooses dangling from a shade tree; a mysterious fire in the night; swift deliberations by a condemning, all-white jury.


WTF?!
Look bozo, if you're going to trivialize, why not just come right out and mock and poke fun. Maybe you could have said "It's got all the elements of a negro spiritual. Troubles on top of troubles, calls from across the water, woeful injustice. . . "

Fuck these mass media corpo-fascist pricks! You don't believe there is institutional racism in this country? Look who is going to end up being villianized.

Here's an even better one:

In Logan county West Virginia, six sick ignorant human monsters held a black woman against her will for a week while sexually assaulting and physically abusing her in some of the most horrendous ways imaginable. Guess who's character is being questioned in the local press for the past week. . . yup. The victim. I haven't read a thing about the six human pieces of shit who perpetrated the crime, but we've found out in a number of articles that got front page headlines that the victim had some bad check warrants out on her and three years ago she pressed charges against her parents for abuse that were later dropped. . . the implication was that they were false charges.

What's it going to take? How long are people of color going to have to fight against the society they are trying to be an equal part of? How long will people of the lower economic classes continue to have their necks stepped on every time they step up to the doors of opportunity. How long will society's power brokers offer a carrot on a stick in one hand and deliver the whip in the other?
I am so sick of the fucking insanity in this country! Perhaps it is time for the people to demand equality on all fronts . . . or else.
Barnyard politics have prevailed for too long in this country. The Constitution of the United States is suppose to prevent this bullshit and give us the opportunity to build a fair, just and truly free society. It's time we demand that those goals be met. . . or else.

1 comment:

The Practical Pundit said...

The Jena 6 are not innocent, though they have clearly been unfairly treated. What's the difference, you ask? Plenty. They assaulted a kid, beat him unconscious, and continued to beat him thereafter. Talk about demonizing the victim, you were the one minimizing Justin Barker's victimization with lame rationalizations like:

"...if six guys get together and attempt to murder someone, that someone is at least going to come close to dying. They sure as hell are going to do more than spend a couple hours in the ER and they sure as hell ain't gonna show up that same day for some school activity."

I'd love to hear how you'd rationalize your response had it been your son.

The only thing you're right about is that they shouldn't have been charged with attempted murder, which is wildly inappropriate, but they certainly should be brought up on appropriate charges, and if found guilty, punished accordingly.

Were the nooses hanging from a tree a catalyst to the incident? It's certainly possible, but was clearly not the precipitating cause, as the beating took place more than three months later, a fact that the media and other liberal apologists routinely obfuscate. Should those responsible for the nooses have been punished? Without question, and the superintendent and school board should have stayed the hell out of it. Does it justify the beating of Barker? Of course not!

Like it or not, hanging nooses from a tree is protected speech. It may be deeply, morally offensive, but hate speech, except in certain specific circumstances, none of which apply to this situation, is Constitutionally protected. That's why the KKK has a legal right to organize a march and rally in Selma, AL. You don't have to like it, but you have to tolerate it or you justify a similar prohibition of your own rights. For one who gripes constantly that our Constitution is under attack, it's glaringly hypocritical for you to apply a different standard in this case, and is emblematic of your blindered, dogmatic, namby-pamby PC approach to everything. You don't want to be right, you want to be liked and admired for "boldly" (smell the irony) and sensitively supporting the popular view.

Schools have the right-- and the obligation--to circumscribe certain rights in the interest of a safe, neutral environment conducive to learning. The school, and particularly the school board and superintendent, failed in this obligation, and they should be held accountable for that failure. The principal wanted to expel the kids responsible for the nooses. Again, not a justification for beating a kid unconscious.

Step back, fer chrissakes, and take an objective look at this situation. There isn't an innocent victim anywhere to be found. Justin Barker is a racist thug, with a history of problems, but it's still illegal to beat him senseless. Mychal Bell is also a thug, with previous juvenile convictions for violent crime. Barker personally had nothing to do with the nooses. He was involved in a lunchroom fight over his use of racial epithets, was knocked unconscious, then kicked and beaten while he lay there helpless.

Pay attention!