I had been sitting on the floor of the family room in a two story house in Coram, New York with my 22 month-old nephew coloring in Dora's hair green, the only crayon that had survived his wrath, when the news came on. The house serves as a sign for my sister and her husband that they have left behind the struggles of the working class and stepped towards providing their two young children with a middle class childhood full of dance recitals, music lessons, and organized sports, symbols of stability and opportunity. On the large screen TV a newscaster droned on about the baffled reactions of most Americans across the country in response to the Jena 6. My nephew, after losing interest in coloring, danced in front of the TV. His dirty blond curls that formed a frizzy halo over his head imposed themselves over the images of people rallying in Jena, LA.
The day before, on September 20th, 2007, three students had walked into Professor Walters's Black Women's Literature of Diaspora class at SBU wearing "Free the Jena 6" t-shirts. Prof. Walters's asked the students to stand up in class and explain what their t-shirts meant. Many of the students in the classroom were unaware of the events that had occurred in Jena, LA and the repercussions that ran like vibrations from a catastrophic earthquake through the US exposing old racially inflicted wounds. Most of the students fell silent when faced with the story of these six young black men who were fighting for their lives in our judicial system. Those who did speak up, spoke of anger and disbelief. One student's voice thundered through the room, "Why are we surprised?", while another student's voice broke as she lamented "all because of a stupid tree."
"The white tree", deemed so not because it was the color white, but because traditionally only white students sat underneath it to enjoy its shade, in question stands to anchor the events that unfolded on August of 2006. Three nooses were found underneath the white tree at Jena High School after a black student sat underneath its shade with permission from the school's principal. Initially the nooses were dismissed as a prank, but when pressured by black parents, the principal gave a three day suspension to the white students responsible. Multiple fights ensued and three months later six young black students stood accused of attempted murder. These events went mostly unreported by the news media and it was not until a blog-inspired movement drew attention to the situation that the nation was informed of the events occurring in this small town.
In class, Prof. Walters stated, "I wonder what the parents of these children must be going through. Not only the parents of the black students who stand accused, but also of the parents of the white students who hung the nooses." With the experience of a seasoned professor, Walters quickly connected the events of the Jena 6 to the literature we were to discuss in class, the relationship between mother and daughters in Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory. While Walters was able to connect the class discussion on the Jena 6 to the theme of the class, I wondered how many other professors discussed the trials of these young men in their classrooms. Was it our job to discuss these events? Britney Spears, Don Imus, Christopher Columbus, and a host of other characters from left field often creep into my classroom. My teaching experience has yet to lead me to develop the nuances that would allow me to weave in political activism with my lesson plan without turning the classroom into a pulpit where I berate my students with my political views. The class I taught this semester on Pornography, Media ,and AIDS did not lend itself to integrate a conversation about the Jena 6. At least I don't know how I could have discussed this topic with my students.
Many universities across this country were engaged with the Civil Rights Movement in the 50s and 60s. How has that involvement evolved? What is our situation as academics in a post-Civil Rights era? What does it mean to be in a post-Civil Rights era in light of the Jena 6 event? Certainly the number of nooses, swastikas, and other signifiers used across this country in hate crimes indicate that the Civil Rights struggle is not over. So, what do we as instructors represent to our students? Is there a sense of radicalness to our work as educators? Are we interrupting or derailing the status quo in our classrooms? Or are we representatives of a nerdy and bookish population that is out of touch with main stream society? The discussion of the Jena 6 in Walters's class was an equal involvement between students and professor. If these three students had not worn in solidarity the "Free the Jena 6" t-shirts, and the professor had not engaged them, the conversation would have never happened.
Statistics show that "[i]n 2001, the chances of going to prison were the highest among black males (32.2%) and Hispanic males (17.2%) and lowest among white males (5.9%)"[1]. In light of this data, which could easily condemn my nephew to a casualty of drugs, violence, and racial inequality, the work produced by Professor Walters and the students in her classroom gives me hope that the world outside of my sister's family room could become a safe place for my nephew.
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