Black on White Crime and Black Accountability

The Jena 6 were thrust into the news by a large number of news personalities and the usual suspects -- Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Much ado was made about the unfair treatment of the boys by the judge and marches were held to protest the slanted decisions of the judicial leadership. Now focus on a 26 year old woman who is trying to get a seat on the bus. She is prevented from sitting by teenagers who state that the seats are reserved. This apparently continues until she finally sits down, whereupon she is set upon by the youth and kicked and punched, dragged off the bus where they continue to beat and punch and kich her until the police arrive. Her situation receives a short blurb on the news and is completely overshadowed by the inclement weather that is blocking trafiic and causing accidents. Not much more is said. The leaders are silent. Al and Jesse nowhere to be found.

Fast forward to December 6, 2005 where an angry former Chief of Police, Ed Norris, decides to highlight this case and spark a debate about accountability and reverse racism on his talk show. A hue and cry begins to ensue and parallels are drawn between the Jena 6 and this lady's situation. Why isn't there more media attention on this? If she were black and the attackers were white, surely they would get more press! Angry callers bemoan the fact that black racism seems to be acceptable and white racisim is not as tolerated. Fortunately there is balance in the show as black callers weigh in and condemn the act. They make it clear that everyone, regardless of color, should be angry about this. To his credit, Ed Norris acknowledges that racism is real and still practised and makes it clear that his indignation is at the fact that nobody seems to want to say anything about this. He asks why Sharpton and Jesse are not making noise about this, and condemns black LEADERSHIP, not the black community, who he feels are as outraged as he is, for not stepping up and crying out for black accountability. I was upset about the situation because, I agree that we should not be complacent about crime in general, and outrageous crimes like this in particular. I agree that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson should speak out against crime no matter the color of the victim if they are really about building up the black cause. A parallel was made between the Jena 6 and this incident. That's where we part ways. In the Jena 6 situation, there was a judge with an agenda who was meting out punishment without really taking into account the details of the crime. The punishment was extreme and harsh. That was a problem that needed attention and the media attention helped set some things straight. In this case the crime was black on white but I feel it should be highlighted because it was heinous. I also have a number of questions:

1. How on earth does a bus that full allow a situation like this to happen? It was 3 p.m. in the afternoon. The only person to intervene according to the report, was the boyfriend. Unconfirmed reports state that the bus driver was also injured but no mention is made of that in the article.
2. What kind of children gang up on a woman (mostly males) and try to beat the life out of her?
3. Why is the media giving wide berth to this case?
4. Mayor Dixon, don't you think this is something that you should handle so as to manage the fears and attitudes about Baltimore?

Here's what I think. I think Mayor Dixon and the powers that be are scared to put this in the forefront because it would be bad business for Baltimore. It would make it look like a dangerous place to be. I think it would also seem that there is a big racism problem going on and it is black on white (another white man was beaten into a coma by black youths earlier in the year and has yet to recover). The media is probably trying to focus on safer topics to avoid a potential uproar and a war of words between the black and white communities--definitely bad for business. Could it spark a riot? Potentially. My personal opinion is that Baltimore is simmering beneath the surface with tensions based on race. It would behoove Mayor Dixon to come out, say something about it and spin it so that people understand that Baltimore is not all bad, it just has a few bad apples, like any other city. Manage the tensions, guide the expectations, and highlight the positive sides of Baltimore (there are many). Keeping quiet about something this horrible sends a very negative image out to everyone and creates the opinion that there is no real leadership when it comes to dealing with crime.

Al and Jesse, speak up about how we don't condone black-on-black OR black-on-white crime. We are trying to move in a positive direction as a people and things like this set us back. It sets us back more when we are not vocal about taking responsibility for our actions, and we allow this nonsense to go on without speaking up about it. We should aim to be above this. I have heard people say that they don't care because white people are getting what they hand out. That's a big mistake. We should all strive to be stronger than this. And let's not get complacent about it because the next victim could be black. If we let them go with one crime, they will get away with the other crime. They won't stop because they've not had to deal with consequences.

For all you apathetic people out there who sit and watch people being beaten to a pulp and do nothing, shame on you. That could be your child next. I don't understand people, particularly men, who sit and watch others get beaten up, and do nothing about it. Who raised you? Don't you have a conscience? I sat on a metro train in Washington DC one time and watched a group of about 20 girls get on. It was obvious they had been fighting outside and the war of words was still going on. Nobody stopped and one of the girls got up and punched the other girl in the face. A sea of about 10 girls went up against a sea of 10 other girls and some passengers (including yours truly) got hurt in the fray. In a train filled with people, only ONE man had the guts to stand and dare the girls to try and get past him to hit each other again. The rest of the men (and I use that term losely) got off that cab and moved into the next one. We ended up losing 20 minutes trying to get them off the train but it would have ended faster if more people had said, "Enough!" Take a stand. Save a life. There would be far less murders if people got more involved. This is probably the biggest tragedy of the whole situation.

I will be watching with interest to see how this situation unfolds but wanted to vent. Some things should never go unnoticed!