In Jena, La. six black teenagers stand accused of beating a white teenager in December 2006 and face attempted murder charges, igniting the imaginations of the entire country as we all try to determine what is actually happening. Perusing internet news reports yields pretty much the same images across the board, no matter the bias of the writer: a historically "white" place to sit under a historically "white" tree, a black student and three Jim Crow nooses hanging over his head. Mychal Bell, who was incarcerated for nine months in connection with the case, is in jail once again. This time it's for probation violation for crimes committed previous to the beating, though the Rev. Al Sharpton proposes Bell's incarceration is in response to a Jena Six rally, one of several across the nation. This situation is now, more than ever, beyond my scope of understanding.
In Muncie another group has been accused of a heavily imbalanced act of violence. This time, news perusal yields a different set of images: a beating at a house party and five girls fighting against one. An Oct. 11 posting on the Indianapolis Star Web site reprints a portion of a Muncie Star Press article, a Facebook wall comment written by a witness of the crime to one of the suspects. "I had so much fun on Saturday even though U girls kicked some other girl's ass," it said. "HaHaHa It was fun to watch."
Do you ever feel really, really embarrassed by your demographic?
The hanging of lynching nooses on the tree branch at Jena High School is embarrassing to me as a white person. In the years following Emancipation and the Civil War, the twisting and hanging of the noose was an unjust, hateful and cruel image, threatening death to anyone bold enough to step across racial lines drawn by a prejudiced society. In the beginning of the third millennium, it's a simple outrage, and although I've never done anything as outwardly racist as hanging a noose on a tree, it still pains me that I can be associated racially with that heinous history.
But the house party beating, now that's a whole new level of humiliation for me, both as a young person and a Ball State student. Homecoming Week, which was devoted to celebrating Ball State pride and all things Cardinal, has been tainted. Even worse, the Daily News said the conflict between these college-age girls may have started "over a boy." It's not enough that college students look like we're predisposed to violence. Oh no, we're very petty, too.
The decline of American culture is a popular accusation for the old and young alike. We blame Britney Spears for the downfall of modesty in a generation of teenage girls and say it's the rap music's fault for the disrespect our teenage boys show their elders. And of course television has gone down the drain from the good ol' days of "I Love Lucy," and no one has the audacity to stop it. But look harder. What we perceive as a lowering of standards in the entertainment industry may only be a symptom of greater societal disease, and Jena Six - and the Ball State Five - are showing us how. The acts are egregious and unbelievable, but the stories are as old as broken humanity: "He's sitting in my spot." "She's dating my man." "They've taken what's mine, and I want it back." The embarrassment I feel doesn't stem as much from the acts or associations themselves, but from a fear that nothing is moving forward, nothing will change. Do you ever feel like we've been where we are for way too long?
Jena Six. Ball State Five. Four, three, two, one, blast off.
Write to Joel at jtmiller@bsu.edu
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