I had been planning to go to Jena for about 3 weeks prior. I had debated on driving and making a weekend trip out of it, flying down and coming back up the same day, or taking the bus (which I ended up doing). So I have to send a shoutout to the Rescue of Our Future Crusaders non-profit organization, lead by Raynell and Reshell. Thank you for putting together a bus out of DC.
It took exactly 24hrs to get to Alexandria, LA from D.C, and on the drive down I was pretty much calm, until the bus went into Mississippi in the quietness of midnight. Then I began thinking a lot of what could happen, and if I was ready mentally and spiritually if anything racist popped off. I thought of that movie Mississippi Burning and Hurricane Katrina. So my nerves kicked in some, but I calmed after a while when I thought of why I was going into Jena. Life itself is bigger than me. This is part of my purpose.
My bus arrived at the Holiday Inn Alexandria around 5am Central Time, so I had an hour to change, relax, and get back on the bus to head to Jena. Alexandria is about 30 miles south of Jena, and Alexandria is about 75 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. As we were heading down to Jena, I could see buses and cars lined up everywhere as far as my eyes can see. My bus made a quick U-turn and ended up being the first bus in line, lol. In the air, you could feel the "let's go do this" energy.
Once we took the last main road to Jena, the police divided us up into 3 groups: firts group were all the cars and motorcycles and the buses who went straight to Jena, second group was about half of the buses from Alexandria, and the third group was the rest of the buses from Alexandria. I didn't like this because it divided us all up throughout Jena. Some folks where marching, some went to the courthouse, and others was at the park rally in Alexandria. I think it was around 45,000 of us there. Jena is in the cut. The last two miles to get in the city were back dirt roads.
As I was walking around to the Courthouse, I realized a few things that upset me some. Most of the white locals had not only closed down their businessess, but they also left Jena. The Jena police left too! I saw maybe 7 white locals the entire time. Another issue were the cell phones. Everybody had reception, but nobody (except T Mobile) was able to successfully dial out. They (who did this remains unknown) knocked out our cell phones so we couldn't dial out.
Me being somewhat analytical and former military, saw an interesting organization there: FBI (or CIA). There were 4 of them dressed in regular non-black clothing and they were all white. Three of them were on top of the roof across from the courthouse snapping pictures of everybody with their satellite and other equipment, and the other was among the crowd taking pictures of everybody. I know the FBI has a history with the Black Panthers, so hopefully that was the main reason they were in Jena.
When I got around to the courthouse, folks were yelling and screaming for justice. We had a podium and microphone, so folks were talking and speaking their minds. After a while, people were getting somewhat restless because we were tired of hearing speeches with no plan of action, it was getting hot and humid, and had been standing up under each other for a few hours. Emotions started riding high when Mike Bell's grandmother and cousin spoke to us crying. Then a four man band came around and started playing (drums, trumpet, tambourine, and tuba). At that point, the energy in front of the courthouse was unparrallel. So some of the cops in front of the courthouse cut off the microphone, and we got even more upset. Then the cops somewhat mobilized and came down to the barrier in front of the people. The cops then had a couple of token black guys try to calm us down, but that didn't work any, we just drowned them out. Then Jesse Jackson arrived....he asked us to pray with him. Then he begain to do his typical speech, and prayed again. That pretty much took all the energy out of the crowd. Jackson then said some folks are going to march now, and some folks are going to stay here. That pretty much divided everybody up. The New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagen and Tavis Smiley spoke to us a bit as well.
Some of the chants were "free Mike Bell", "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!", and "Bring out the DA!" When the band came around, we started singining, "Ooooooo! Free my people! And let my people go!!" Ricky Smiley started us singing an old negro spiritual called, "Aint go let nobody turn me 'round."
I went around to Jena High School after the courthouse to see the tree stump. When I got there, I discovered the stump had been dug up long before we got there! Somebody planted a black, green, and red flag in the ground where the tree was, lol. I walked around outside the high school to see what it looked like, and wasn't impressed at all. It looked like a dump. The benches outside where the black kids were told to sit looked pathetic and it gave no protection from the sun.
After I left the school, I just walked around Jena and took everything in. It was good to see everyone come together like that from Cali to Arkansas to NYC to Detroit to the Virgin Islands to St Louis to Texas to the Carolinas to Florida to Alabama to Memphis to Chicago and Philly. We pretty much were chillin on the street corners, in the park, on folks lawns, by the schools, and in front of stores. Some guy brought his bbq grill down to Jena and was selling hot dogs, chicken, and other food. The atmosphere there was one of love and equality and justice. Nobody there was about violence. But we did leave a lot of empty water bottles on their streets.As we were getting ready to leave out of Jena, we began to see a few of the locals come back into the city. I know when we were there all of the houses and businesses looked like they had been vacant for days.
The next day, on the trip back to D.C. my bus had discovered that the court denied Mike Bell bail to get out of jail. That right there set it off on my bus. Some folks said, "I guess we are going back to Jena soon." And others got up on the bus and expressed how they felt and what we should do next. This carried on for a good hour or two.
MY THOUGHTS.....
On the trip down to Jena, I was talking to one of my boys and I told him that the Spirit moved me to go down there and do what I can do. If I would have had to drive down there myself, I would have done it. On the bus with me was a high school principal, Middle School Teacher, social worker, couple of corporate employees, 73yr old man and 70yr old woman, a minister, four 12yr old girls, two non-profit entrepreneurs, a barber, and two photographers. There were many others but this diverse group showed me that we are all in this together. On the trip back to D.C. when folks were expressing themselves, one thing that stuck with me and I completely agreed with is the following.....our enemy (whether it be natural or spiritual) has declared war on the black youth. And we need every black man who has made it or has avoided the system, to reach back and grab as many young people as possible. We can no longer ignore them. They look up to us for advice and help on how to make it. When something as big and powerful as what we are going up against, is just going down and strategically beating up on our children, we can no longer afford to stand by and watch it happen.
The middle school teacher spoke and he said, he has a class of 26 students. During parent/teacher conference, there are at most 2 parents coming. And one of the parents are against the teacher no matter what. A black adult (who doesn't matter) needs to be involved in every facet of a black child's life, that is the only way we can show them love and that we care about their future. The minister spoke, and he said he had dinner with some of the youth that came down to Jena. The youth explained to him their disappointment in the rally and they wanted to see more action and less talk. He requested that we pray more. While I agree with prayer, I disagree with waiting on divine intervention from the sky. God is in all of us and we have the ability ourselves to cause divine intervetion. I agree with the youth, less talk and more action. And I'm not talking physical action. I'm talking about the type of action that moves mountions. We need financial boycotts (against those companies or people housed in the states that are against us) or avid protest that cause infrastructure issues (stand offs in the middle of major roads during rush hour). These are the only things that the enemy understands. Talking and marches and rallys are fine, but it cannot end there.
One thing is understood, the generation before me dropped the ball when it comes to educating us on our enemy. After the civil rights movement in the 1960's, those invovled went off and lived life, but the enemy went out and modified his plan to attack the black population. Now that plan is in full blossom and we are stuck in the middle of it. It will not be easy to get out of this mess because this new plan is so diverse and complex it is involved in every piece of our lifes: law, health and nutrition, education, finances, and spirituality. Education out of the norm in these areas will help us fight the fight. And that is what the black baby boomers need to understand. They need to reach back to those that are younger and say we are here with you and we can adjust our understanding to yours to fight this fight.
Here are my pictures...
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=17rack4d.23vu80k5&x=0&y=jobgzl
Oh yeah, one thing I did want to bring up is where were the ministers of those mega churches in the U.S??? I did not hear about anyone of them being there....TD Jakes? Creflo Dollar? Jamal Bryant? Frank Reid? Eddie Long? Just to name a few. Now there were some ministers down there, which is great! But those well-known ministers should have been down there teaching the word of God.
My mind right now is fixed on love and equality for everyone.
And so, the purpose continues....
No comments:
Post a Comment