Replies to '10/01 Jena 6 Continues'

You are very fair and sound very accurate. I am in total agreement. I taught school 30 yrs. in Texas and I have seen it all. It does seem to have mysteriously escalated recently. I have always been considered cool because I am from southern La. and mixed but look white.I have always been at a minority school and prospered. I'm the one who always took the side of the underdog, which used to be 50/50. Now, it is too much to watch...even black teachers go balistic on the white kids. 100% I see whites try to be nice and lately blacks hate so much that they do not speak back, they are retreating into a zone that would make their great great grandparents very very sad. Black America is now being given the chances that they always wanted and they are blowing it. The opportunities in America are boundless. But you have to work. My daughter moved up north and I visited her last week and the whole town was so nice, so respectful, not one person stared me down, made me feel hated.A town of class. A town of mostly white people. Sorry but it is true. Guess what the violence was? Someone stole money from the cash register at the country club. Read this board and you will see the nonsense that is passed down to generations. My jaw hangs open at some of the unfounded garbage that has been brainwashed into innocent little children's minds. Oh well. I can't save the world. But I surely do not want to die because of being in the wrong place when an angry person wants revenge. I'm moving too.

I am too through!  How can you post the stuff that you posted and sleep at night?  Unbelievable!  I have lived in Baton Rouge (EBR) for 47 years which is all of my life and the stuff that you said is ridiculous!  For you to say that some type of crime is happening EVERY SINGLE DAY by the majority of African Americans is NOT true!  What you failed to state that on ONE night, there were TWO separate murders and attempted murder by FOUR CAUCASIAN MEN!  One of the incidences was a drug deal gone bad so the white male shot the African American.  The white male was dealing drugs but you failed to mention that information.  Then THREE white males shot TWO African Americans.  One of the males died and the last I heard, the other one was still in the hospital.  I have not heard the root of that shooting.  However, you failed to report that information.  You failed to mention that we had a WHITE mass murderer but you failed to mention that information as well.  You failed to mention that the suppliers of drug abuse to the African Americans are CAUCASIANS!   You failed to mention that white crime unless it is a murder, is kept hush, hush while the media pretty much blast the African American crimes.  You failed to mention that the majority of pedophiles that have been caught are WHITE!  You failed to mention that some professors at LSU and the like drilled holes in the male bathroom walls to make it easier to have homosexual affairs and did I mention that they are white.  You failed to state that a police chief in LA was killed and he had drugs in his system and did I mention that he was white but they are still investigating.  You failed to mention that white teens have blown up mailboxes or demolished mailboxes.  You failed to mention that a white man at a private school is charged with rape of at least one of his students.  The Caucasians that I have mentioned are neither uneducated nor poor!  You see African American males and “I get a knot in the pit of my stomach” so I say that it is YOU with the problem because since you are leaning on what you read or hear, you might be concerned with your white husband since MANY have been reported to be gay or a pedophile!  Based upon YOUR logic, should Africa Americans “have a knot in the pit of our stomach” when we see white males for the fear of them being drug suppliers, gay, pedophiles, murderers, rapists, etc?  Would it be right to generalize people as you have done?  Isn’t that in it self racists? 

Now, let us get this right!  BTR as well as just about all cities have problems from a variety of races and Scio-economic backgrounds.  Yes, lately, we have had eight killings in eight days BUT those killings included the African Americans that were murdered by the CAUCASINS! 

My daughter is a senior at a predominately white private school and I LOVE the school.  Not because it is predominately white but because kids of all races walk hand in hand.  You see them hugging, helping one another etc.  The teachers whom are predominately white try hard for ALL students!

If your son had a problem with the “six”, then you should have addressed that with the principal, the parents and the children and not allow this to fester and set up prejudices in your mind.  As a parent you are that child’s first defense and if this situation is not corrected the CORRECT way, then you are setting up problems within your son as it appears it has done to yourself.

You said, “NOTHING has changed here”.

If that were true, then why is it that my children attend or have attended predominately white schools?  If that were true, then why is there in BTR, mixed marriages and yet a cross was not burned on their lawn? Yes, things have changed but they could be better from ALL sides!  BTR as well as just about every city have racists people! 

You said, “Many people here live in poverty, both blacks and whites.”

MANY people live ABOVE the poverty line!  BTR is not any different from just about all other cities!

You said, “They are taught from a very early age to hate. They are uneducated by their parents and their communities, which are very much divided not only by color but by class.”

Who?  The “many” people in poverty?  If that is the case, then for sure, you are living in another world!  My dear, I KNOW of people that live below the poverty line and they are not prejudice.  Are there prejudices on both sides, yes it is but you make it to seem that all of those that are in poverty were taught to hate and that is not the truth!  Let me tell you about this story of a restaurant owner in BTR that on the day that the marchers marched in Jena, a restaurant OWNER gave impartial service and ultimately the African Americans left without getting answers from the owner.  Surely, the owner is not in poverty but it appears that he showed hatred.  My dear, “hatred” occurs from poverty all the way down to the super rich! 

You said, “You raised your children to hate…”

There you go again, generalizing once again!  I cannot say that about the six nor the one in Jena because what I know as a parent, you can teach your kids one thing and when they get around their peers, they regurgitate what they were taught and they swallow the junk from their peers.  Dr. Phil and the rest are wrong to blame parents WITHOUT actually researching what the teens were taught!  This society blames parents for the failures of their children WITHOUT talking to the parents.  Society has failed to recognize that teens have a mind of their own and many times they go against the teachings of their parents! 

You said, “…to the prejudices that are so prevalent in the predominantly white private schools here.”

“Prevalent?” When I was not home schooling my kids, they ONLY attended “predominantly white private schools” and if the schools were racially prejudice, then it was not shown to my kids.  Three different private schools and I can say without a doubt, I cannot share your story!   .

You said, “There is an overwhelming amount of racism here, by both blacks and whites.”

“Overwhelming?”  WHAAAAATTTT!!!!  Please do not get me wrong, yes there is prejudice but the same thing can be said across this nation!  It appears that the crowd that you are around has polluted your mind and it appears that you have witnessed the remarks from the crowd that you are around.  Let me tell you, I try not to be around negative people of any kind.  If someone has a true concern, then it should be expressed but when people are generalizing others because of race or class, then I try to gently put those in their place.  Perhaps, if you speak out against those remarks, perhaps you can make a difference to those closed minded people.

You said, “…the actions of the people in this community make me want to run to some all white town where I will feel safe”

You are right, that is sad!  A “white town that is safe” as if white people do not murder!  Do you remember Oklahoma?  Memory serves me right, weren’t the bombers, WHITE?  Columbine?  WHITE!  Son of Sam?  WHITE!  Charles Manson!  WHITE!  Jeffery Dahmer?  WHITE!  The guy that shot Regan?  WHITE!  The six that tortured the African American girl?  WHITE!  Michael Devlin?  WHITE!  Tyler Peterson from the predominately “white town”, Crandon, Wisconsin?  WHITE!  Are you getting the picture?

Let me tell you a little about myself.  I am a product of poverty.  My parents NEVER taught me to “hate.”  My schooling came from public schools.  I was reared in the 60’s and 70’s and heard my mother screamed when MLK, JFK and RK were killed by WHITE men but yet, we were taught not to hate.  Today, I am married to a godly man and God has blessed us financially that we to were and are able to send our children to private schools.  I am a house wife and I have been for almost two decades.  Both of my children were conceived after we were married!  I am an African American woman!  You see, people can overcome poverty and MANY people that are in poverty are good people!  MANY love God and they try to live morally correct! Just because people live in poverty, it does not automatically deem them to be uneducated and hateful.  I am educated and I pray NEVER to hate ANYONE!  You see, your generalization, is incorrect which denotes that you need to associate yourself with people in different classes of people.  You might be surprised in what you find!

As the poverty lines continue to rise, you will find that MANY that were not in poverty are there now!  My dear, because of the cost of living, those that are making 60K a year with a family of five could be considered “poverty.”  There are teachers and others with a college education are financially straining.  MANY are leaving college with huge debt that has caused MANY to return home to live with their parents.  Those individuals cannot financially make it even with a college degree!  You see, they would be considered in “poverty.”

My dear, I pray that you stop listening to everything that you hear and actually go around more positive people of all races and to stop generalizing a class or race of people!