Jena, LA and Little Rock, AR
On Thursday some APELC students were considering the context of Gloria Naylor’s “The Meanings of a Word” and wondering about issues of racism and violence. It’d be nice to think that particularly in the West, we’ve begun to overcome differences of race and ethnicity, but make no mistake: Racism and racially motivated violence (and the eruptions that ensue) are alive and well in the 21st century and in no way are threatening to abate. Witness the winter 2000 riots in Spain, spring 2001 riots in Cincinnati, Ohio, the summer 2001 riots in Britain, fall 2005 riots in France, and the current unrest in Switzerland over apparently racist propaganda.
Hopefully (sentence adverb―score it!), you’ve been following the recent controversy in Jena, Louisiana over some black kids, some white kids, a tree, and some nooses (litotes). These are the events of the day, kids, the events that will define and motivate us to justice and best action.
Take some time to listen to the NewsHour piece, and examine the full coverage of the Case of Louisiana’s Jena Six at NPR. And it might be worthwhile to reflect on the history of race and rights by listening to the story of “Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine”.
Don’t be afraid to post your thoughts on these most important issues. Click the link above to leave a comment.
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2 Responses to “Jena, LA and Little Rock, AR”
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“Hopefully (sentence adverb―score it!), you’ve been following the recent controvery in Jena, Louisiana over a some black kids, some white kids, a tree, and some nooses (litotes).”
The “a” between over and some should be left out.
extra credit?
I can see these issues of race are important to you, Mike…
If you’d at least capitalized the fragment “extra credit?” yourself I might have thought about it. Snap!
Anything relevant to the topic to add?