Remember the Jena Six? They're the black students who were thrown in jail in Louisiana in 2006 for beating a white racist who had been harassing them with nooses and other provocations.
Given the prevalence of racial bias in the so-called criminal "justice" system, it was not surprising that a majority of the six were originally charged with attempted murder. Eventually, however, cooler heads prevailed.
The charges were reduced, and, this past Friday, the last of the charges were settled. All six young people will soon be free to move forward with their lives.
But can they? Especially in a place like Louisiana, where Hurricane Katrina became an excuse for ethnic cleansing?
I suspect that the Six still have some struggles ahead of them as they try to find their place in the racially divided Louisiana of today.
And I hope they will be quick to realize that justice is not accomplished through violence, even if you're on the right side.
Because, sadly, even today, black people, brown people, women, gays, and everyone else outside the straight-white-male power demographic must work so much harder, and be so much more careful, in everything we do.
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