Jena 6

blackascoal said:
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

One of the first anti-racism songs in America, sung by Billie Holliday.

A rare clip of her singing Strange Fruit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs
Click to expand...

Powerful song....

I'm a little teary eyed now :(

I really want the south to get out of this forever, understand? I just don't know how.
 
RStringfield said:
Thanks to selective memories many pretend that only the south has had race issues. I gave a short list of some of the uglier examples of the "progressive" areas. The NY draft riots were as ugly as Rosewood if not more. But there is this pretense that it's a southern thing.
Click to expand...

I believe you may have misread my post. I am fully aware that racism exists nationwide.

I specifically refered to this particular story - which seemed to have a southern-flavor to it: schoolyard segregation and nooses swinging from trees.
 
Watermark said:
I think we can all accept the fact that the south has a terrible history with race relation, RS. The only places in the south that seem to have been changed are those who have a lot of intra-state migration, and a lot of people from other places to influence the attitude. I'm pretty proud to state that my part of Mississippi has never been very racist. We even had a county down here, Jones county, succeed from the confederacy during the civil war. Florida? Goddamit, RS. Florida is the north.
Click to expand...

Okay, then we can pin Rosewood on the North. :)

I just find the haughty attitude that all racism is southern ridiculous. The anti Chinese racism in California was quite extreme and codified into their laws. And this is not all that long ago either.
 
RStringfield said:
Okay, then we can pin Rosewood on the North. :)

I just find the haughty attitude that all racism is southern ridiculous. The anti Chinese racism in California was quite extreme and codified into their laws. And this is not all that long ago either.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone ever implied that all racism was southern, but without question it has had the worst and longest history of it.

Jim Crow laws were almost exclusively southern.
 
blackascoal said:
Damn .. I hope we can forever communicate civily.

I've seemed to have misread you.
Click to expand...

I always try to say that most bad things arise from misunderstandings and ignorances from both of the involved parties.

Unfortunately, I act too much on impulse myself, and let the insults fly. I really think we have a lot in common though, Black.
 
Protests did not just take place in Jena, La, there were protests all over the country, even at my daughters high school.

This has attracted international attention and even David Bowie gave $10,000.00 to the students defense fund.

One of the lessons of the Civil Rights Era .. attract international attention and stand America in front of the mirror.
 
Watermark said:
I always try to say that most bad things arise from misunderstandings and ignorances from both of the involved parties.

Unfortunately, I act too much on impulse myself, and let the insults fly. I really think we have a lot in common though, Black.
Click to expand...

I apologize for anything offensive I've said and I certainly accept my share of the blame.
 
Not really..............

blackascoal said:
I don't think anyone ever implied that all racism was southern, but without question it has had the worst and longest history of it.

Jim Crow laws were almost exclusively southern.
Click to expand...

The west was built on 'Coolies" Chinese slave labor...sorry blackascoal..ya don't own pain!:pke:
 
It's got a petition going all around on facebook. Wear green day. I joined the thing as soon as I saw it. There are hundreds of thousands of members.

I do not necessarily disagree with them going being prosecuted for something. But this was a goddamn school fight. At most I think they deserved a month or two, or just a simple fine. I'd rather have them released than sent to jail for fifty years, especially considering the underlying factors here. This WAS NOT attempted murder. The charge levied against them is something they were not guilty of - and although they may have done something else in relation to the crime, now that the prosecution has levied "Attempted murder", any further prosectution is double jeopardy. I have no problem with them just being set free, and taught the lesson not to let your anger get to you.

There IS racism underlying this.

For instance, one white student threatened another black student with a gun. The black student wrestled the gun away. He was charged with theft. The white student wasn't charged with anything.
 
Watermark said:
It's got a petition going all around on facebook. Wear green day. I joined the thing as soon as I saw it.

I do not necessarily disagree with them going being prosecuted for something. But this was a goddamn school fight. At most I think they deserved a month or two, or just a simple fine. I'd rather have them released than sent to jail for fifty years, especially considering the underlying factors here. This WAS NOT attempted murder. The charge levied against them is something they were not guilty of - and although they may have done something else in relation to the crime, now that the prosecution has levied "Attempted murder", any further prosectution is double jeopardy. I have no problem with them just being set free, and taught the lesson not to let your anger get to you.

There IS racism underlying this.

For instance, one white student threatened another black student with a gun. The black student wrestled the gun away. He was charged with theft. The white student wasn't charged with anything.
Click to expand...

Imagine living under such conditions all your life .. conditions that have existed for more than 400 years.
 
blackascoal said:
I don't think anyone ever implied that all racism was southern, but without question it has had the worst and longest history of it..
Click to expand...

I am not so sure. It has an ugly history with it, so do many other places.

blackascoal said:
Jim Crow laws were almost exclusively southern.
Click to expand...

Jim Crow laws were based on northern laws, pre civil war, concerning transportation and accomadation. Jim Crow as used first referred to the segregated cars of the North.
 
I've really tried to develop an understanding of racism.

The most I can really think of is that racism is passive. The blacks in the south have really a different culture from the whites, due to the vast seperation that has existed between our races in the south for hundreds of years. They will seem completely alien to a child who grew up in a white culture, and easy to apathize with. Whenever a white District Attorney looks at a black child, he doesn't see any of white the cultural cues he has learned that allow him to sympathize. He thinks he's seeing a child that doesn't care. Which causes him to overreact.

And I think this is why most southerners think it's ridiculous to call them racist, because their racisms really don't really even exist on a conscious level. I've described this before in myself, and I'm trying to purge myself of it.
 
What I want to do with Mississippi... I want that damn confederate flag taken out of our flag, and I want "Forrest county" to be renamed "Emmit Till" county.
 
Watermark said:
I've really tried to develop an understanding of racism.

The most I can really think of is that racism is passive. The blacks in the south have really a different culture from the whites, due to the vast seperation that has existed between our races in the south for hundreds of years. They will seem completely alien to a child who grew up in a white culture, and easy to apathize with. Whenever a white District Attorney looks at a black child, he doesn't see any of white the cultural cues he has learned that allow him to sympathize. He thinks he's seeing a child that doesn't care. Which causes him to overreact.

And I think this is why most southerners think it's ridiculous to call them racist, because their racisms really don't really even exist on a conscious level. I've described this before in myself, and I'm trying to purge myself of it.
Click to expand...

We are all human my brother, and his skin that you and I wear isn't who we are.

I was blessed to speak to Mamie Till, mother of Emmitt Till, two weeks before her death. She was one of the most courageous humans I have ever known. her decision to keep her son's casket open in spite of death threats demanding that she close it, was the real beginnings of the Civil Rights movement.

She died without many knowing of her bravery, or even who she was. She looked almost exactly like my mother. It saddens me to jiust think about her and the pain she must have endured.
 
blackascoal said:
Go here my brother and you'll understand why a hanging noose has so much affect on black Americans.

www.maafa.org

It also proves that all the horror was not limited to the south.
Click to expand...

I already know why. I mourn what happened in the south. Been to the spot of Rosewood to do so. I just want the region to grow beyond it.
 
It should not be a noose forever around the south's neck, anymore than the racism of other regions should continue to damn them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top