Campus rally blindly champions Jena 6

Last Monday’s Jena 6 protest woke me up.

I don’t mean this in a metaphorical sense. No,… Last Monday’s Jena 6 protest woke me up.

I don’t mean this in a metaphorical sense. No, chants of “free the Jena 6” and “no justice, no peace” literally woke me out of my nap around 2 p.m. on Monday.

I don’t normally have a problem with protesters – they do have a constitutional right to assembly – but the two hours when I’m not feeling well and am just trying to get a little extra sleep before a doctor’s appointment is not the best time to bother me.

Of course, if the protest were capable of actually achieving a concrete objective, I wouldn’t mind as much.

However, the fact that none of the Jena 6, the six black students charged with attempted second-degree murder for the beating of a white classmate, are currently in jail and thus cannot be freed, leads me to believe that students were holding this protest more out of a commitment to their self-importance than to justice for the Jena 6.

As far as I’m concerned, personal empowerment is not a good enough reason to wake me up.

Although the “free the Jena 6” chant was simply unnecessary, the phrase “no justice, no peace” and its context deserves some serious consideration.

First of all, I recognize that the local court proceedings in the Jena case were a sham. In fact, I started following the case a few months ago before the protests, the mainstream media coverage and the Facebook groups.

I take issues like this very seriously; I’ve gone to the lectures on Mumia Abu-Jamal, I’ve researched the case of Leonard Peltier and I’ve volunteered at the Thomas Merton Center mailing books to prisoners. The activism surrounding social justice issues is something with which I’m well acquainted.

That’s why, initially, I completely sympathized with the six black students now known as the Jena 6. However, although the charges were excessive, the fact remains that these six students beat another student, according to the Associated Press, “into a state of bloody unconsciousness.”

The Facebook groups and the national figures such as Al Sharpton seem to ignore this fact but I can’t.

Indeed, I fear that the students and political figures involved in the Jena 6 case are attempting to manufacture a new set of civil rights folk heroes.

However, the Jena 6 are not folk heroes, they are not modern equivalents of Emmett Till, and we must not allow ourselves, even in our outrage over the injustices perpetrated in Jena, to treat them as such.

Instead of blindly championing the case of the Jena 6, we must recognize that the legal system is capable of adequately resolving this case.

Already, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the attack, cannot be tried as an adult. Bell is now out on bail and his case is in the hands of capable defense attorneys rather than overworked public defenders.

Not only is Bell no longer in prison, charges have been reduced across the board as the justice system proves that it is capable of recognizing and addressing the legal misconduct of La Salle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters.

This reversal is probably, in some part, influenced by the early protests and media attention. I applaud those who took part early on in raising awareness of this case so that justice could be had for the Jena 6.

However, the most recent protest completely ignores these latest developments and thus the use of the phrase “no justice no peace” was completely irresponsible.

It appears to me that they simply chose a phrase with a strong history in various protest movements and used it because it made them feel powerful. In fact, the only people who seem to have been denied peace in this instance were the students, staff and faculty of the University of Pittsburgh.

Believe me, I recognize that there are good intentions at work here, that many of my peers mean well in raising awareness about this case but good intentions are no excuse for ignorance.

Frankly, we should all be aware of this case because it is a perfect cautionary tale for the new student left: Pick your battles and don’t be afraid to question the leadership of organizations such as the NAACP. Failing to unquestioningly support Al Sharpton’s latest cause does not make you a bad person.

Either way, next time someone wants to stage a protest that involves loud noises, just send me an e-mail. We’ll find a way to work around my nap schedule so that no one is deprived of his or her constitutional right to assembly and I’m not deprived of a few more hours of sleep.

Planning to stage a protest? E-mail Giles at gbh4@pitt.edu.