someone comes along to teach you you might be wearing blinkers. Pam Spaulding had some very thoughtful things to say which I read this morning. What hit me the most was the following:
"What is the explanation? Oh, I could think of several, but overt racism isn't one of them. I have a couple of theories.
* "It's not my area of expertise". This is an old saw used to avoid discussing race -- it's uncomfortable for white folks and they want to avoid land mines. the easiest way to do that is to say nothing at all, which still speaks volumes. Just about anything can be viewed through the prism of race; in this case it's not solely about race, the story of the Jena 6 is about our system of justice and how it can be affected by color, class, power structure, and the almighty dollar.
* "It's not my issue": Sorry to say, this gets reinforced by the professional race-bating, blacker-than-thou crowd such as Jesse Jackson, who chastised Barack Obama for "acting white" on the issue. That only makes otherwise supportive whites further paranoid. The "black enough" nonsense is divisive and so reflective of old-school mentality often seen in the establishment civil rights set still clinging to power. Of course then Jackson and his ilk will then criticize the lack of diversity in the group of marchers. it's a self-fulfilling prophecy."
That first really struck me hard. She's gotten a lot of flack in the hours since she posted, but my take was that her thoughts were honest, non-polemic, and this reader spent a lot of time reflecting on this issue later. So if you stumble over this, please go read. Sometimes it's good to look into a mirror that isn't the one on your wall of your consciousness which shows you to your best advantage, you know?
Worth reading. Oh yes, and Trex at Fire Dog Lake has a link here.
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