The Power of the People and the Campaign to Free the Jena Six

I am pleased to have been a part of the Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition and the Day of Blogging for Justice. I know that we'll never capture the actual breadth of the campaign because many of my friends over at Yahoo 360 participated but didn't add their names to the list of Bloggers for Justice. My research also showed folks from throughout the U.S. blogging about this injustice.

As of this post, more than 139,000 people signed the petition on petitiononline.com and almost 130,000 have signed the petition over at colorofchange.org.

Surely the powers that be are trying to figure out the win-win situation that satisfies blacks and the supporters of the Jena 6 while not alienating the racist whites that obviously influence Louisiana politics and politicians. Three nooses hanging from a tree is not a prank, it's a terrorist act. Call it what it is and punish the culprits.

The Jena 6 situation makes the U.S. look bad especially in light of other injustices such as Genarlow Wilson, Martin Lee Anderson, Marcus Dixon, Shaquanda Cotton, etc. As much as I love animals, when so much coverage is given to Michael Vick and animal cruelty and the Duke Lacrosse Case, why doesn't the media cover the Jena 6 and Genarlow Wilson?

Well, just as the mainstream can get on board when movements take a life of their own, so will traditional journalism. Remember how many times you received that hoax e-mail about Sinbad dying or that Tommy Hilfiger said he didn't want black to wear his clothes? Well, it will take that kind of enthusiasm to share independent news but we can do it.

Before I end this, I must give props to Yobachi over at www.blackperspective.net for spearheading the Day of Blogging for Justice and keeping us updated with info.

Peace.