Florida Catholic | Editorial

The shade of an oak tree

Published: 09.28.97

It seemed a reasonable request — much like being able to drink from the same drinking fountain as anyone else, or being able to sit down in the front of the bus. Some young, black high school students in Jena, La., asked the principal if they, too, could sit in the shade of an oak tree on campus where a group of white students usually gathered. Since this is 2007 and not the segregated 1950s, the principal said it was allowed, that it didn’t matter where students sat.

Hate is not an appropriate response to hate crimes. As we have seen in this instance, the violence in Jena has perpetuated more violence, more misunderstanding, more distrust, more hatred.

But the next day, three nooses were hanging in the tree — a not-so-subtle message from some of the white students that the black students were not only unwelcome, but also were threatened with harm if they tried to sit in the area. The local officials said “no crime” had been committed by this act and little was done to discipline those who were allegedly responsible. Some confusion exists in reports on this incident — whether there were three nooses or two; whether the white boys received just three days’ suspension or a longer suspension at an alternative school and then another two-week in-school suspension.

Sadly, the situation escalated. Some of the black students allegedly assaulted some of the white students, resulting in charges of attempted murder — the lethal weapon to justify the charge being the students’ shoes. And now another escalation: a Web site, reportedly backed by a white supremacist from another state, has posted the names and addresses of five of the six black boys charged in the beatings and is encouraging “retribution” — a modern-day, cyber- lynch mob, which brings us back to where it started with the nooses in the tree.

To begin with, those who would say that placing nooses in a tree was not a crime are wrong. This was not a harmless prank, and it cannot be defended as free speech. This was an act of violence, just as much — or more so — than scrawling the “N” word or a swastika on a wall. It is the same as cross burnings and other hate crimes, which are taken more seriously in the law and dealt with more severely because of the egregiousness of their nature.

Hate is not an appropriate response to hate crimes. As we have seen in this instance, the violence in Jena has perpetuated more violence, more misunderstanding, more distrust, more hatred. We have had numerous chances to learn this lesson through the course of history. Christ himself tried to teach us: Not, “An eye for an eye,” but, “Turn the other cheek.” At times, we have difficulty following Jesus’ encouragement in this regard; it is so much easier to fight back when faced with such situations. Yet, if we don’t stop the escalation of the hostilities, where will it end?

It is somewhat unbelievable that in this new millennium, a school campus would tolerate “separate facilities” for blacks and whites. Even if it was never officially designated as such, it may be something that school officials should have been conscious of and taken steps to correct.

The current unrest in Jena, which has spilled across the nation, reveals again that in many areas, racial tension — whether based in ignorance or fear — must first be identified and then healed. And that may be a long and slow process — but a needed one.

Accusations have been made that aid to New Orleans and other areas hit hard by Hurricane Katrina may have been delayed by apathy or indifference or even deliberate neglect due to racial bias. Is it possible that if racial divides could affect access to disaster aid, they could affect access to the shade of a tree on a school campus?

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