Racism has NOT been forgotten

In my previous blog I found an article on the Jena 6. While this article does show that racism is still prevalent in the South, it is NOT being ignored. If anything the video I included demonstrated just how serious the racism problem is being taken. The small town of Jena was filled with tens of thousands of angry protestors. These protestors were being headed by well known civil rights activists Reverend Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. This clearly demonstrates the fact that people are not turning a blind eye to this problem in this little southern town. People are taking the time to intervene when racism becomes a problem. The protestors do not show this apathy or belief that racism has dissolved as mentioned in the blog by Yates.

Now that was just a small demonstration of how people are taking racism seriously in this one place for that one case, but not only are people taking the racism problem seriously on the community level but also nationally and globally. I found one website that lists over 2000 organizations that deal with discrimination around the globe. The America’s Black Holocaust Museum not only helps remind people that the problem not only once existed but still persists. Other groups such as the Anti-Hate Organization, The Black World Today, the National Association of Black and White Men Together and many other programs are attempting to make real strides in destroying the problem of racism. Not only are mostly black-membered associations taking the racism problem seriously but white-membered groups are as well. The Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation feel they are taking up the work of the old time abolitionists. These programs also see that racism is not just a southern problem but work towards attacking the problem on a national and global scale. People have not forgotten about the problem that is racism but are actively fighting to end it.

Racism + The South = ?

In this English class we have been toying with the identity of the South. In “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow,” we were given a rather harsh picture created by racism in southern places. Now this article was written in 1937, so surely things have changed since then, right? For this blog post I want you to come up with a sentence. This sentence needs to have the word racism and south somewhere in it. You can come up with any relationship you like. Some questions you might think about are: is there racism in the South, who is being racist, is the racism hidden or blunt? After you have come up with this sentence, you need to support it with something whether it be an article, a news video, etc.

The old racism (whites racist towards blacks) that is stereotypically associated with the South is alive and well. While society might be tired of the same old story or while society would like to believe that things have gotten better, society is wrong. While society might need to focus on the possibility that racism has evolved to be more then just white on black, it is important to not forget the racism that has stereotypically been associated with the South. The video on this post is a special from ESPN Outside the Lines on the “Jena 6”. The Jena 6 is six black students that were charged with attempted second-degree murder of a white student. Clearly to support my sentence you need a bit of background to the story.

According to the article by Adrian DePugh and the video, a few days before the attack there was an incident revolving around a tree that was normally an all white hang out. When a few black students spent some time under the tree, the next day there were nooses hung on the tree. Then the white student that was attacked either did or did not instigate the fight, depending on who you ask. The Jena 6 then attacked the white student. The response to this racism was clearly out of line, but the fact is that the racism is still there. Whether the white student instigated the fight, the nooses were still hung on the tree. This racism that is stereotypical of the South is not only alive and well, but is an intricate part of the Southern identity.