Letters to the Editor
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First Action??
Hanging nooses was the "first action"? In what way can you say that? "Decorating" that tree didn't happen in a vacuum. It was a response to something else...which was in response to something else...which was in response to something else...and so on...
Attempting to find the "first action" or "first cause" in this case is futile. And it is beside the point: Something is rotten in Jena – just like it is rotten is the rest of the US-of-A... We're not finished working through racism, with understanding it and rooting it out. It keeps coming back... Trying to affix blame for racism rather that assuming responsibility and taking steps to ameliorate and eventually eradicate it is a problem.
Some may judge Poco's comments obnoxious; but there is absolutely no need to "kick the crap" out of anything here with words or on the playground with boots. That sort of violent response is exactly the problem folks, no? And then there are some valid points in what Poco brings up that need to be addressed. This rotteness we call "Racism" is old and has festered so long that it is a complex mix of poisons, pus and sewage in a deep societal/civic wound. To clean this mess up will take something more than a band-aid or hydrogen peroxide...Simple solutions just won't work.
Keef is a good man who does a good job. I feel privileged to read and share his work. However, he's not Superman...and we can't expect him to fix and address everything – and save truth, justice and the American Way!!! He just does his part. I'd hope that more Salon readers would do as well in their responses.