Students, professors meet to discuss Jena case
More than 40 people attended the Monday night event.
Published Sept. 18, 2007
Students met Monday night in the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center to discuss the controversy surrounding the Jena Six in Louisiana.
"I think it's important because a lot of people don't know there's still racism in the world," said Josh Copeland, president of the Legion of Black Collegians. "I think it's important for the campus to bring it up, because back in the day, the civil rights movement was run by college students."
The Jena Six are a group of black students from a high school in Jena, La., who were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder after a fight with a white classmate in December 2006.
The fight was caused by an incident earlier in the year after black students sat under a tree, in an area traditionally dominated by white students. The next day, black students returned to the site, where they found nooses hanging from the branches.
More than 40 people attended the meeting, which was facilitated by Legion of Black Collegians political chairman Anthony Martin.
A panel of four people, including professors, a lawyer and a student, was on hand to answer questions.
The meeting began with a brief overview of the history of the issue, and then the floor was opened for questions.
The panel members discussed their own thoughts and experiences with both the Jena issues and racism in general.
Steve Concannon, a student advocate with Student Legal Services, said he was interested in the political side of the issue, and said he believed more is going on than just conflicts between black and white people.
History professor Carol Anderson said the Jena case was not an aberration.
"The noose wasn't a prank," she said. "It was the reality of 400 lynchings in Louisiana."
She also said many people wrongly believe that racism is finished.
"People think we had this dream that we have all overcome," Anderson said.
She said criminalization of "blackness" was enormous, and in Missouri alone, black males make up 5 percent of the college-aged male population and 45 percent of the prison population.
Both law professor S. David Mitchell and senior Kourtney Mitchell said Jena was indicative of racism in the education system.
"When you want to get rid of an unruly student or a student not helping you to meet the No Child Left Behind Act, you tag them," S. David Mitchell said.
Kourtney Mitchell agreed, and said the handling of the Jena Six case was a statement.
"It's a pipeline from the schoolyard to the jail," he said. "The system is out to get as many of us to jail as possible," he said.
Anderson also talked about racism in the justice system.
"We are still deluding ourselves that we have overcome," said Anderson. "My sense is that this is such an egregious miscarriage of justice that they've suffered enough, frankly."
The panel discussed ways students could affect change. Kourtney Mitchell and two other students are going to Jena on Wednesday to protest at the proceedings.
"If I have the power to do something and affect that kind of change, I will," he said.
Martin said he was pleased with how the forum went, and was also glad to see that so many people came out.
"The issue isn't just Jena Six," Martin said, "It's the whole community of black juveniles being persecuted."