Jena 6: A Report From the Field

The Nile Report

From Jena to Memphis:
Building and Sustaining a New Civil Rights Movement
By: Kenya Bradshaw, Harry T. Cash III, & Leah Wells

Jena, Louisiana focused attention on race, power and justice in the U.S. In spite of events like Jena, there is still a persistent sentiment that conversations about race are a throwback to an ancient time. But, consider the following:

• Race and Power.
Black students sat under a tree that was, by custom, reserved for white students. White students who routinely sat in the shade of the school courtyard’s only tree reacted to black students’ sitting under the tree at lunchtime by hanging a noose the following day. What happens when people of color begin to occupy traditionally white spaces in society? Is this about a tree and nooses, or is it a bigger issue of enfranchisement, entitlement andpower?

• Uneven Justice.
Accountability in Jena meant different things for white and black students. The participation and punishment for whites was routinely minimized and trivialized, while black participation and punishment was exaggerated and intensified. Rather than treating the nooses as a hate crime, it was called a prank. Rather than being expelled, white students received in-school suspensions. On the other hand, black students were charged with attemptedmurder and tried as adults for a schoolyard fight. This is not an isolated circumstance where race played a role in the charges facing a young person accused of a crime. According to the ACLU, minority students are suspended from school two to three times more than other students.

• Symbols of the Past.
The nooses that hung from the tree in Jena sent a powerful message to the black students, an echo from the past that said, “You stepped out of line.”

Incidents like Jena are indicative of a larger local, regional and national conversation, racial problems that must be revisited by the current coming-of-age generation.

The Memphis response to the incidents in Jena took direction from the words ofMarian Wright Edelman: “Our ‘child and youth problem’ is not a child and youthproblem, it is a profound adult problem.” Children learn what they live, and the problems facing children are a reflection of adult behavior. If the criminal justice system is indeed the third parent for children, it is because of shortcomings of the systems constructed and maintained by adults.

The reality right now for children and families in Memphis is not one of hope and opportunity.

• 1 in 4 people is under the age of 18, making Memphis a very young city.
• 2 in 5 kids live in poverty; 3 in 5 are low-income.
Kids in poverty are more likely to have lower levels of education, have earlier and more frequent encounterswith the criminal justice system and to start families at earlier ages.
• Half of children live in areas of concentrated poverty. Children in concentrated poverty are less likely to encounter adults who have full-time employment and higher levels of education and are more likely to experience geographic isolation from work and school.

In many ways, Memphis is a reflection of the past because of the separate conditions that children face in school, with de-facto segregated schools and enclaves of concentrated poverty in our community which are defined almost exclusively by race.

Thus, if we are to confront and amend the conditions that children and familiesface in Memphis, we must take direction from the Dr. King who made the connections between race, poverty and civil rights. He showed that civil rights are human rights and must be extended beyond a single-issue perspective, like crime, as well as extended to all members of the community.

Rooted in the Christian tenet of social justice that actions should be a reflection ofbeliefs, we organized the Memphis response to Jena. The pilgrimage to Jena was a show of support for the Jena Six, as well as an active, explicit pedagogy whereby young people were encouraged through action to participate and reflect on their role in creating a more just society. The common sentiment among the 250 participants was that the day of the rally and march was important and pivotal, but the real work would begin when the group returned home. Now is the time to engage the community in discussions and actions to address issues highlightedby the injustice in Jena as well as the realities facing children, families andcommunities here in Memphis.

Three Strategies for Building and Sustaining a New Civil Rights Movement in Memphis

1. We must become “Concerned Memphians United” and recognize that this is animportant moment to redefine our commitment to civil rights. The themes of juvenile justice, the criminalization of children, race relations, violence and symbols of hatred have been brought to the forefront because of Jena Six and we must take this opportunity to learn from what went wrong in Jena to that our community can be stronger and more unified – and so that something likethat does not happen here.

2. Everyone who participated in the Jena Six demonstration on September 20, 2007 has a commitment to their community to return with stories of their experiences to share with the community. Students from Memphis Challenge and Bridge Builders will be facilitating community discussions as an assessment of where Memphis stands on Civil Rights today. By learning what our community currently thinks about the current conditions of race, violence, poverty, crime and youth, we can begin to build a movement in Memphis.

3. After the community discussions, students and interested community members will synthesize the themes that emerged and build strategies for a sustained local Civil Rights movement. We must work to systematically address the current problems of political representation, segregation and integration,the systemic violence of poverty, and juvenile justice as well as envisioning and working toward a better future for all people in Memphis and Shelby County.

4. For more information, please contact ConcernedMemphiansUnited@gmail.com as soon as possible to learn about future events and how you can continue to be involved, or visit http://concernedmemphiansunited.blogspot.com/ for updates about community events.

Authors. Pictured right to left are Kenya Bradshaw & Harry T. Cash III , Co-Founders of Concerned Memphians United, Leah C. Wells, Community Activist.

The National Institute for Law & Equity (NILE) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3)
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