… minding my own business, sitting on my front porch, enjoying a wholesome glass of milk and reading the Bible, when all of a sudden and for no reason… Sumcracka called me nigga.”
Thus summarizes the legal defense of the infamous Jena Six, accused of beating a white student for uttering a racial slur.
The case brought unwanted national media attention to the sleepy little town of Jena, spurred on by professional race baiters and hate mongerers civil rights advocates Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
And as it turns out, not only has Sumcracka proven to be as elusive a culprit as his cousin Sumdood, he had a solid alibi in the beating of Justin Barker. Turns out, he wasn’t even there:
At the hearing, attorneys representing the five men read a statement expressing sympathy to the Barkers and acknowledging that Justin Barker did not use a racial slur. They also apologized to the residents of Jena for the uproar caused by the case.
I’m from the South, where the concept of “fighting words” is not only well-recognized, but has been codified by a number of courts. People are responsible for the words that flow from their mouths, and sometimes those words will earn you a well-deserved beating.
But as it turns out, the slur was never uttered. What these young men probably don’t realize is that not only did their accusation nearly tear a town apart for over two years, but their admission that it was all a lie will only make it easier for those who would deny that racism still exists down here.
Not only didn’t they help themselves, their race or their community, they gave the bigots ammunition to say, “See, I told you so!”
Oddly enough, the professional bigots civil rights advocates Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have been noticeably silent on the subject.
Gee, I wonder why that is?
H/T to Wyatt Earp and CNN.
