Malingering’s World

Title of article: Black congressional group calls for pardon of Jena 6

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/21/jena.six.ap/index.html

Date of article: 12/21/07

This article is about members of the Congressional Black Caucus calling on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco to pardon Mychal Bell and five other teenagers known as the “Jena 6.” Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said in a letter to Blanco this week that these teens have paid their debt to society and should be immediately pardoned. Fourteen other members of the caucus accompanied Lee in urging Blanco to support releasing Bell, who was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile on December 3 for his role in an assault last year on a white student named Justin Barker. Bell also has another sixteen-month sentence that he must serve out that’s unrelated to this matter.
This case connects to U.S. history in a variety of ways including links to racism experienced back in the days of slavery. Many white people treated black people unequally and considered themselves better than them. Black citizens were especially denied the same fairness in court such as in cases like Plessy vs. Ferguson, which stated that separate but equal was tolerated. Numerous Caucasians were also lynching these individuals and got away with it clean. This case also shows many forms of discrimination against a group of people based on the color of their skin.
My opinion on this matter is that the court ruling on these “Jena 6” students should be pardoned as soon as possible. The citizens of the U.S. need to be treated equal despite our diverse differences amongst one another. I feel that the Louisiana Court ruling on this trial was way too harsh based mainly on the color of skin of the students. The judicial branch of our government should change their opinions and judge each case using actual facts. These students should be either released or retried fairly or else more supporters should protest until their demands are met.
The focus of this topic is very important to our society. It makes Americans aware that racism and discrimination is still occurring in our country and needs to be fixed immediately. This dilemma has still been a major obstacle throughout the years and it should be corrected promptly. The government needs to inform people starting with children that it’s not virtuous to prejudge others. Overall, if this problem is not resolved soon it could lead to riots and protests which will tear apart out country much further.