Vol. 71/No. 38      October 15, 2007

The Jena Six case starts with the noose—a symbol of terror from the days when lynchings by the Ku Klux Klan and other racist gangs were used to roll back gains made by freed slaves, to break the possibilities of an alliance between toiling Blacks and whites, and to impose second-class status on Blacks. In the decades between Radical Reconstruction and the civil rights movement, thousands of Blacks were killed at the hands of lynch mobs. Lynchings were commonly used to drive Blacks off the land. Rightist gangs also targeted immigrants and Jews.

Refusing to be cowed by such violence, Blacks over the decades convinced the overwhelming majority of working people in the United States that lynchings are unacceptable. Black workers helped lead battles that formed the industrial union movement in the 1930s, increasing their confidence to fight racist terror and legal segregation. They fought to end discrimination in the armed forces and war industries during World War II. Through mass, proletarian-led battles in the 1950s and ’60s, the legal Jim Crow segregation system was overthrown.

As one Tennessee farmer told the Militant this week, the Jena Six case “smells of the past.” Hundreds of thousands—by marching or by wearing black in solidarity—have demonstrated their refusal to go back to that past.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that nooses have been hung at several other schools since the Jena Six case started getting national attention. In Anoka, Minnesota, racists burned a 10-foot by 6-foot cross into the lawn of a Black resident. Added to this is the beating of a Black student in Florida, racist vandalism at the Chicago Militant Labor Forum hall, and other acts of vigilantism.

These rightist attacks must be answered. They are attempts to take back ground lost when workers, farmers, and students poured out by the tens of thousands to demand justice for the Jena Six.

Street actions, speak-outs, and other public protests are the way to push back vigilantism and win justice for the Jena Six, not reliance on “hate crime” legislation or the courts. The capitalist “justice” system is stacked against workers, especially Blacks, from the start. The only way to force some justice is by the kind of massive mobilizations we have witnessed in recent weeks.
 
 
Related articles:
‘We all live in Jena’
Mychal Bell released on bail, faces new trial
Actions demanding justice for Jena 6 continue
Forum in Chicago protests racist vandalism
Racists beat Black student in Florida  
 
 
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