[NYTr] Racism: The Justice that Jena Demands

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Z Magazine - Oct 1, 2007
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=13921


The Justice that Jena Demands

by Xochitl Bervera
Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children (FFLIC)

I want to tell you about Emmanuelle Narcisse.  He was a tall, slim,
handsome young man who was killed by a guard at the Bridge City
Correctional Center for Youth ? a Louisiana juvenile prison ? in 2003.
Apparently, he was "fussing" in line, talking back to a guard.  The
guard punched him in the face, one blow, and Emmanuelle went down
backwards, slamming his head on the concrete.  He took his last breath
there behind the barbed wire of that state run facility.  The guard was
suspended with pay during the investigation.  No indictment was ever
filed against him.

There is also Tobias Kingsley,[1] sentenced when he was 15 to two years
in juvenile prison for sneaking into a hotel swimming pool (his first
offense). Tobias endured physical and sexual abuse inside the prison.
He said that guards traded sex with kids for drugs and cigarettes, and
sometimes set kids up to fight one another, making cash bets on the
winner.  His mama said he was never the same after he came home.  She
said the nightmares, the violence, the paranoia persisted years after
the private lawyers helped him come home early.  His battles with
addiction and depression are not yet over.

And there is Shareef Cousin, who was tried as an adult and sent to
death row in the state of Louisiana for a murder that he didn't
commit.  Shareef spent from age 16 to age 26 behind bars, the majority
of those years isolated in Angola's Death Row, because an over zealous
prosecutor didn't care that the evidence didn't really add up.  After
all, it was only a young Black man's life on the line.

These are young Black men who have encountered Louisiana's criminal
justice system who I know because their mothers have become proud
members of Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children
(FFLIC), the organization I have worked for over the last 7 years.
These stories are about young men who have experienced incredible
injustice, not unlike the Jena 6, only the national spotlight has never
shined on them.

There are hundreds more.  Thousands.  Every day in the state of
Louisiana (and in most states in this nation), injustices of epic
proportions are taking place in our criminal and juvenile justice
systems.  We, those of us who live here, fight here, and organize here,
know hundreds of families and young people ? often our own - who've
endured almost inconceivable levels of violence, abuse, neglect.  And
despite efforts to get someone, anyone to care and to act, these young
people most often end up statistics in somebody's dismal report, or an
anecdote in an article just like this.  Because people don't care.
Because these young people are not just poor, they are not just Black,
they are criminals.

Hallelujah, someone noticed!

So, Hallelujah!  Almost overnight it seems, the nation is looking deep
into the heart of Louisiana's criminal justice system and seeing what
we've been shouting about all these years!  The racism, the blatant and
unaccountable abuse of power masquerading as "justice."  The
slavery-like, Jim Crow-like, Bush-era prejudice and exploitation that
has been the bedrock of white supremacy here and all over the Deep
South for decades.  Young people of color and mothers across the
country are rising up saying "We wont take it anymore!  We demand
justice!"  The myth that the goal of the criminal justice system is
protecting public safety is slowly unraveling as youth in Philadelphia,
DC,   Oakland and mothers in Chicago, Jackson, and Birmingham make that
most important of realizations, "that could have been me," "that could
have been my child."

Many are asking, "why now?"  Why, of all the horrific incidents we've
seen and exposed, is this the one that set off this fire of hope?  Our
young people have been shot and killed by police in every city in this
nation, left to die of dehydration in local jails, railroaded by white
juries and judges into serving 20, 30, 40 years in the prison
plantations we call Angola, Parchment, and Sing Sing...

Let me tell you what my heart tells me.  What really matters is not
why, but what we plan to do with this moment now that it has arrived.
What will the leaders, the youth, the elders of our movement do now?

Demanding Justice for Us All

Of course we must relentlessly and persistently demand justice for the
Jena 6.  But we must demand justice, not only in the form of dropping
the charges against these specific youth, but in the systematic and
thorough rooting out of racism from all wings of the criminal justice
systems across the United States of America.

Justice in Jena requires justice for all the others as well ? for all
those who have suffered (and some who have died) silently behind bars
and for their families who have fought without benefit of TV cameras
and news reporters.  It requires understanding that we will not, we can
not achieve racial justice in this country if we do not fight against
the criminal justice system, not just in individual instances, but in
its institutionalized, systemic form.  If we do not understand this ?
and understand it deeply ? then this newly discovered energy, this
tidal wave of outrage, this beautiful, intergenerational protesting
isn't going to mean a damn thing past next week's news.

Justice in Jena requires all of us across the country to rise up
against the racism and exploitation of the criminal justice system in
all the places where we've come to see it and grown to accept it
whether that's allowing for an abysmal public defender office in your
county or turning away when you see a police officer trample the
rights, and perhaps the body, of a fellow citizen.  We must cast off
once and for all, the fundamental lie that the system has anything to
do with criminals or justice or public safety.  We must not back down,
as so many movements have, when we are "crime-baited," accused of
defending rapists and murderers, accused of defending crime itself.  We
must not make excuses for some parts of the system while protesting
others.  Similar to opposing the war, the whole war, and not simply
certain battles or certain strategies, we must oppose the system in its
entirety.  We must dismiss, once and for all, the urge to discuss
what's wrong with the system ? what's broken and needs to be fixed.

There is nothing broken in this system.  In fact, usually (when it is
not disrupted by 50,000 protestors), it is quite efficient at doing
precisely what it was created to do.  In the Deep South, the criminal
justice system as we know it was built after the abolition of slavery,
as part of the terror machine which destroyed the briefly federally
protected Reconstruction era.  Without nuance or subtlety, the system
was created by wealthy, land owning whites to keep Blacks "in line," on
the plantation, and working for next to nothing.  Thanks to the
Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery "except as a punishment
for crime," laws and codes were invented that criminalized the very
existence of Black people, police were hired to "enforce" those laws,
and courts were mandated to send these newly created "criminals" to
jail, or better yet, to be leased out to the very plantation owners
they had been "freed" from just months before.  The "justice" that was
once meted out by slave owners who were "masters" of their property,
was now taken care of by the law.  The word "slave" was replaced by the
word "criminal."

"Its not about race, it's about crime"

And yet, even with this history known, the stigma of criminality has
remained so strong that our own movements have turned their backs on
this issue over the years.  Too many of our movements today want to
dismiss, minimize, or overlook the necessity for a racial justice
movement to prioritize organizing around criminal justice.  Too often,
our members meet others ? even those who should be allies ? who hold
the entrenched belief that if a child is in prison, he must be "bad,"
he must have done something wrong.  Even in progressive circles,
organizations prefer to focus on the school children who need an
education, the families who want affordable housing, the victims of
street violence and drive-by shootings.  These people are portrayed as
"innocent" and deserving while currently and formerly incarcerated
people are "guilty" - of something.

Of course, it's a false dichotomy.  Everyone knows that the same
communities, the same people, who are most impacted by violence, the
lack of health care, education, and housing are those most brutally
impacted by policing and prisons.  But the idea of the dichotomy has
been essential to maintaining the stigma which justifies the system.
And it's been a handy and effective tool to explain away a great deal
of racial injustice in this country.

In Jena, when asked about the incident which led to the arrests of the
Jena 6, a white librarian confidently explained to the NPR reporter,
"It's not about race.  It's about crime."  Crime -- the ultimate proxy
for race, the ultimate justification for racism.

What the future holds

I believe that this moment in history can be a pivotal one if we make
it so.  Up to 50,000 people marched in the streets of Jena yesterday ?

the majority of them Black, many were from the South.  All were
outraged by the blatant racism evidenced by the criminal justice
system.  This could be the beginning of the end for a system that
should have been dismantled years ago.

But what we fight for and how we fight will make all the difference.
The most obvious principle is that we cannot fight for the system to
expand ? in any way.  Asking for the white kids who hung the nooses to
be charged, calling for Hate Crime Legislation -- these "solutions"
just strengthen the system and give the same players ? the DA, the
judge, the jury ? more powers and more validation.  If we understand
that the system, at its core, is not designed to promote justice, then
why would we ask for anything that expands its reach or powers?  At the
very least, we must only call for things which shrink the system ?
closing prisons, freeing prisoners, cutting correction budgets,
eliminating the death penalty and Life Without Parole, prohibiting
juvenile transfers, and implementing sentencing reform.

We can also call for accountability from our elected officials.  DAs
and judges who perpetuate injustice, state representatives who are in
bed with the corrections department and private prison companies ?
these people should not be allowed to hold office.  They should be
ousted whether by recall, regular elections, or public pressure to step
down.

But we can ? and should - also call for the redirection of funds into a
real public safety system.  We must make it clear that the issue of
public safety is fundamentally distinct from the issue of the criminal
justice system.  The only thing they have in common is rhetoric.
Developing a public safety system which is prevention orientated, based
on principles of restorative or transformative justice, prioritizes
making the victim and community whole, and creatively resolving
conflict is a powerful and noble goal and our communities should know
more about these models and fight for them.  A public safety system
includes community based programs, quality education and the
elimination of racism.

The families of the Jena 6 are ahead of the crowd in the list of
demands they have made public: 1.  Drop (or fairly reduce) All Charges;
2.  Reinstate School Credits; 3. No Juvenile Records; 4. Investigate
"Noose" Incident of September 1, 2006; 5. Remove Reed Walters from the
District Attorney's Office; 6.Conduct Undoing Racism Workshops for
Staff, Faculty, Administrators, Students, Parents and Community Members.

These are good demands for Jena.  What will you demand in your hometown
or city?

FFLIC is a membership based organization consisting primarily of
mothers and grandmothers.  These mothers and grandmothers have seen all
sides of the farce known as the criminal justice system.  They have
been victims of sexual and physical violence who have either kept quiet
or endured the humiliation and neglect of the DA's office and the
so-called victim's advocates.  They have been forced to call the police
on their children when mental illness or addiction has made them
violent and no other services exist.  They have visited their children
in prison and seen boot marks on their faces.  They have walked home
alone through dark streets in poor neighborhoods where there are no
programs, no services, no activities to keep young men busy and
hopeful.  They have seen their children beat by police officers, by
prison guards, sometimes even by judges and district attorneys.

Standing on both sides of the system, these mothers will tell you that
justice exists nowhere in the vicinity.  It may sound radical, but its
time we start listening to those who have been through it all and tear
down the disgrace that is the U.S. criminal justice system.

Note:

[1] Name has been changed for purposes of confidentiality

[Xochitl Bervera is co-director of Families and Friends of Louisiana's
Incarcerated Children (http://www.fflic.org).  She can be reached at
xochitl at fflic.org ]

Resources:

New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) and Network of
Teacher Activist Groups (TAG) have developed: Revealing Racist Roots:
The 3 R's for Teaching About the Jena 6, a curriculum guide for
teachers to address what's happening in Jena.   Download the resource
guide in PDF Version or Word Version for free at: jyyp://www.nycore.org
OR  http://www.t4sj.org.

Donate to support the legal defense fund:

Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO BOX 2798
Jena, LA 71342

Sign the petitions at: http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/

For more information or to offer concrete support, email:
jena6defense(at)gmail.com

The Jena Six and the School To Prison Pipeline:
http://naacpldf.org/content.aspx?article=1208

If you are in nyc and want to get involved Jena Six Support, email:
da_bla2 at yahoo.com.  

In New Orleans, email: neworleans at leftturn.org.