Jena 6 Protesters
The Wrong Message About Racism
By Daniel Muniz

I grew up in the barrio and I was surrounded by Hispanics who were always suspicious of white people. In the small rural South Texas community that I lived in, whites lived on the “good” side of the railroad tracks while Hispanics lived on the “wrong” side. Although my small town was predominately Hispanic, the whites had most of the wealth and the nice houses as well as the professional and good paying jobs.

As a result, my parents and numerous other Hispanics were always a bit paranoid about white people and rightly so because they and their parents grew up in an era of hateful bigotry. However, I was born in the turbulent year of 1968 and I was the recipient of very big cultural changes that were taking place in the country at that time. Social norms and cultural standards were being ripped apart.

Although I had my share of rednecks, some of which were unsavory characters, I also grew up around quite a number of decent white people. In my racially divided and impoverished town, nearly all of my teachers were white and almost all of them were civilized respectable people in the community. They went above and beyond in their fairness and evenhandedness in not only treating everybody with dignity, especially since a lot of us were poor, but also with helping students achieve their academic potential. A lot of Hispanics from that town went to college.
 

Story Continues Below ê

Today's Top Stories

● Smoking and Parenting - Activists Invade Your House ● Excused Absences - No Excuse for Missing Assignments ● Deceptive Republicans - Screwed By Your Own Party ● Drug Lord's New Strategy - Pot Farming in National Parks ● Death in the Family - The Funeral of My Aunt and Uncle ● Gringo Papers - Credit for Illegal Aliens

Yesterday's Top Stories

● Nuclear Power - Too Much Corporate Welfare ● Lights Out - Teacher Caught in Sex Act ● So Much Baloney - Politics and Stem Cell Research ● Girl Takes Life - Bad Parenting Becomes Lethal ● Illegal Alien Terror - Breakdown of Immigration Laws ● Ebonics And Tex-Mex - English By Any Other Name

Consequently, the white people that I came in contact with were totally different than the whites that my parents and grandparents had known when they were young. As I got older, I knew plenty of white people in Texas and from the South who found racism revolting. Although their reasons were very different, they all had a common theme.

Some felt a deep religious conviction that bigotry was an abomination to God since we are all God’s children. In fact, it surprised me to see certain white people ask if anyone was religious before they uttered a racial slur. Somehow, they wanted to avoid any harsh reprimand from other whites in the South who were religious.

And for others, it was simply the sheer ugliness of racism that they found not only inappropriate but disgusting. They felt that they were decent civilized people in which it was plainly wrong to treat anybody, especially total strangers, in a way that they didn’t want to be treated.

I have also known a lot of older white people who grew up racist but as minorities were integrated into society, their opinions and beliefs radically changed. Some of them told me how wrong they were in their youth because they simply didn’t know any better since that was the way society was. But they were also very grateful that they now know better because they have become good friends with lots of minorities.

Times change and people change.

That is why I find the demonstrations for the Jena 6 in Jena Louisiana to be so appalling. In one broad stroke, racial arsonists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton exploited the Jena 6 by painting the entire South as hateful bigots. These racial arsonists are only interested in furthering their own political agenda by inflaming racial tensions. There is a lot to benefit from if the racial arsonists can keep minorities perpetually fearful and distrustful of whites.

And then there are the white liberals. With their own ignorance about the South, they also exploit existing stereotypes.

John Mellencamp recorded the song "Jena, take your nooses down" as a way to bash to everyone in the South. In a blatant lie, Mellencamp claims that his song is definitely not an indictment of the town of Jena but a condemnation of racism. Mellencamp is just hopping on the bandwagon of a trendy crusade.

It bothers me to no end when white liberals resort to such defamatory mischaracterizations. In fact, they take delight in feeding the paranoia that some minorities still have about white people because it also furthers their own political agendas. But it is this ignorance that I find so appalling because the South has so many decent white people of strong moral character who despise racism. I know because I grew up with them.

A white liberal may feel good about himself when he bashes Southern whites but he is totally unaware of the enormous progress and accomplishments that have already taken place. Race relations have tremendously improved in parts of the country where there was once bitter prejudice but white liberals are too ignorant to accept that. They just prefer to be comfortable in their own outdated stereotypes while being completely insulated from the real world.

And of course it is not perfect world because it is filled with stupid people and as far as I know, we are always going to have stupid people in our midst. The white kids who put the nooses in the “white tree” in Jena did a very racist act and they were promptly expelled. However, their parents intervened and persuaded the school board to tone down the punishment into a suspension claiming that it was only a prank. There was nothing the principal could do except abide by the decision from the school board. Reversals like that happen all the time in school districts all over the country because parents don’t want their children severely punished even if they did engage in outrageous behavior.

However, the Jena 6 protesters and their white liberal supporters refuse to even acknowledge that there were actually people trying to do the right thing in Jena by meting out a harsh punishment like expulsion. Instead, they made the assumption that everybody in the South must be bigoted and ignorant.

It is time for racial arsonists and white liberals to grow up and see firsthand how much of the world has really changed. As a recipient of that change, I enjoyed the fruits of a totally new society. It is unrealistic to expect perfection because humanity is imperfect but our country today is radically different and substantially better. Perhaps some day white liberals can open their eyes and see it for themselves.

We want your opinion! Tell us what you thought about this article. Click the Your Feedback menu item to send us your comments.