Racism
Racism is Still a Major Part of Our Society
In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit under a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to find three nooses hanging from the tree. The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration went about it as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights started breaking out at school. The black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. The district attorney pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles. As Americans we are in denial and afraid of racism, but we have to find a solution for this ongoing problem.
Racism is a major issue that is hard to understand. The fact that there's still racism in America is even harder to understand. Anyone who has been informed about racism or is aware of racism would say the Jena six case was based on race. When looking more in depth, race becomes more of an issue. Some would rather not to deal with the issue and pretend as if it never happened. Most people want to find the answers to why this happened. Maybe the population and the way the children were raised is a major factor. In Jena, La, the population is 85 percent white leaving the black population a minority. In this little town, it's as if racism and segregation has never ended. My grandfather was born and raised in Jena. When he moved to New Orleans, about forty-seven years...
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