Some people
think that there is no racism in the world. Well, that’s
wrong; racism does exist. Now, we may not see it everyday
where we live, but it is still occurring. The
Jena 6 case illustrates that racism does exist. In fact, this
story has provided a forum for the nation to address the
issue of race relations.
In
Jena
,
Louisiana six boys were being charged with attempted murder. They were
charged as adults and could have ended up serving up to 100
years in prison. Many people
of different races did not agree with the charges. They
thought the charges were motivated by race. They showed
their support by either wearing black on September 20th,
signing an online petition, or traveling to
Jena
,
Louisiana to participate in protests.
“I was
appalled by this; I couldn’t believe that this was
happening. It’s a shame to even see something like this
happen to teenage boys that attend a predominantly white
school,” said my mother Mrs. Hughey. One
sophomore said, “I am white and have African American
friends, and I don’t think anyone should be treated
differently [because of] the way they look; so, I made sure
that I wore all black on the 20th.”
Both whites and blacks stood up
for these boys, even though they didn’t even know them. I think that is a way of
being one, by standing up for what we believe in or what we think is right.
Even though all of the charges weren’t dropped, I think that we made a good
start, but in order to get something accomplished, you have to try and try again
until you succeed; I don’t think we should stop until all the charges are
dropped.
