Reflections on the Jena 6 Movement Part I

Tuesday night, I did a radio interview for a show out in LA. The topic had something to do with youth activism and the Jena 6 case and I was supposed to be talking about October first’s national walk-out. The other guest was a rapper from LA involved in a project dealing with youth out there.

It was cool. But it demonstrated what seems to be the conventional understanding (and flaw) of this whole ordeal. Walk with me.

Youth activism. My man in Brazil used to say “activists do activities.” I agree. As much as folks around here love to use the term (and use it they do!), the fact is that “activism” reduces organizing to a mere hobby. It emphasizes the activity at the sacrifice of the theory. That’s not praxis. That’s just doin thangs for the sake of doing them.

Ok semantics. I understand. And that’s really tangential to what I’m even tryna say. So let me return. It’s the youth part that’s my real concern.

On September 20, when thousands of beautiful, beautiful Black people gathered outside the courthouse in Jena, Louisiana, we were excited to see how many young folks came out. A vast majority of the thousands present were under the age of thirty, mostly college students. Admittedly uncertain of exactly what we expected to come out of the day (especially after the intended sentencing date was cancelled due to the overturning of Mychal Bell’s adult conviction), many were sincerely disappointed with the way things went down.

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton commandeered the microphone. No surprise. Jesse was spitting the same things he was spitting back when he splattered Dr. King’s blood on his face. No surprise. Reverend Al showed up in a stretch Navigator trailed by two (empty) stretch limousines with a touch-up to make the most astute AKA jealous. No surprise. But what is surprising is that we, the overwhelming majority who were visibly displeased with the ostentatious display of tired rhetoric, failed to do anything about it. We allowed them to carry on. This is where the issue lies.

Older folks have called our generation lazy, apathetic, materialistic, and so forth. This is a debate that doesn’t particularly interest me. But if there were one thing that this day showed us, it is what the older generation is: paternalistic. Here we stood, the lazy, apathetic, materialistic generation who took off from work/school/our regularly scheduled program to board busses from as far away as Los Angeles to participate in something that was of the utmost importance to us, only to show up, tired, sweaty, hungry, and listen to a roster of speakers who were not speaking to us, but rather to the small minority of their own constituencies.

The fact is that so-called Black leadership has a vested interest in the status quo. Jesse Jackson can father “illegitimate” children and still have the money to pay lawyers and child-support. Al Sharpton can roll in limos and keep his perm tight. They live well and keep their sheep close at bay. A viable movement, whether of youth or not, openly challenges their ability to remain comfortable. They are not concerned with causing waves, just splashing the water to create the illusion of a rocking boat. The reality is that if we are truly concerned with creating change, we need to do it ourselves. And it can’t be done through the traditional means deemed “acceptable” by mainstream society. Mainstream society is responsible for our plight. It can never provide the formula for our Liberation.

And perhaps even worse than their microphone monopoly is that we allowed the shenanigan to proceed uninterrupted (we do not claim the New Black Panther Party…I won’t even go into that). I can’t place all of the responsibility outside of us. See, we are not confident enough in ourselves to assert our ideas and visions. When something goes down, we get upset, then defer to the older folks for a plan. When their plan includes things that we don’t find relevant, we either participate with expressed resignation, or forget about it (I think this is what they mistake for apathy).

So Tuesday night I’m on this radio show and they talking about “youth activism” and how proud they are to see the youth come out. This is whack to me! There is something so very paternalistic about claiming this to be a “youth movement.” “Aww, how cute, you guys are standing up for what you believe in. That’s great! Just be home before the street lights come on.” Are you with me or am I buggin?

No one called the Civil Rights movement a “youth movement;” this is not what they said about the Black Power Movement; the liberation movement of Azania (South Africa) was not dubbed a “youth thing.” And the people who led these were our same age: mid teens to late twenties. Referring to this as a “youth movement” suggests that it is only a phase, one that its participants will simply “grow out of.” While I am not so naïve as to believe that everyone is in it for the long-haul, I do understand that labeling this a youth movement prevents people from thinking in long-terms; protracted struggle becomes (or remains) as strange a term as Uhuru.

You underdig?

-Amari