There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
-- Anais Nin

In 2007 – 53 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities; 52 years after Emmett Till was kidnapped, beaten, shot, and drowned in Mississippi’s Tallahatchie River after having whistled at a white woman; 50 years since the Little Rock Nine enrolled in Little Rock Central High School amid threats and surrounded by federal guard; 43 years after legislation that outlawed segregation in schools and public places; 39 years after a leader was killed on a balcony for unabashedly speaking the truth instead of scratching his head – one small Southern town in central Louisiana is still “lynching black folk.

And we’re not keeping quiet about it!

Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner, Al Sharpton, National Public Radio, and hordes of other vocal leaders and the media are headed to Jena, Louisiana on September 20 to let the natives there know that hell no, we won’t take no mo’!

Thus was the conversation on Monday’s Michael Baisdon Show when one caller made a huge point. She said that while we were right to be offended and pack the busses that will descend on Jena in a week, what about the issues happening in our individual back yards? What about aggressive gentrification in predominately African American communities funded by everybody but black folk? What about the mislabeling and herding of African American boys into special education and alternative, non-college track programs? What about losing your home because a lender believed you to be a high-risk borrower because you are black and convinced you to agree to unfair and abusive loan terms? The response Baisden gave was that we had to start somewhere and an issue as blatantly racial as “Jena Six” could not be ignored.

He’s right, something of that nature can’t be ignored and we do have to start with some cause. But, that’s the problem. We keep starting then stopping. We get mad about something that happens to us, rile the cavalcade, speak out, protest, and have prayer vigils with lighted candles. When the dust settles, the only ones left are those who had a prize pony in the show in the first place.

We start, we stop. And when a new offense rises, something that really ruffles our feathers and disrespects who we are, we start again. Then, we stop again.

Ooh look, isn’t that Warner Music Group still signing misogynist rappers to their label? Another “bitch” and “ho” ride the turntable and play the club.

We start, we stop, and each time we stop, we take some of the air out of our fight. We take even more air out of our credibility as a people who care and want justice when we pursue an issue just because it’s the most obvious and the loudest.

Certainly “Jena Six” is an issue we must all get behind, and certainly there are a plethora of other maddening problems and situations we must seize to improve as well. The issue though is we can’t start out strong to alleviate a thing, then when the wind changes, or our most vocal say so, we’re off to something else. We’ll never find solutions, closure, or peace if we keep stopping.

Sadiqqa © 2007