Jena case reveals rush to judgment

I find the issue occurring in Jena, La., just the latest in a series of disturbing rushes to judgment.

It has becoming increasingly common over the past few decades for several prominent politicians to use the noble banner of anti-racism to support African Americans who are being accused of, or accusing someone of, a crime. This in and of itself is not disturbing at all, but when one takes a closer look, it becomes apparent that race was not at all a part of the crimes involved.

The issue of race was injected into these issues by these prominent African Americans solely to give support to the African Americans involved in the crime. For example, take the Michael Vick case. As soon as Vick was charged, the head of the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP immediately declared that Vick was innocent, and that the charges against him were racially motivated. When Vick himself admitted guilt, the head backpedaled, saying that he didn't see what was wrong with dog fighting in a society that allows hunting. It was obvious that Vick wasn't charged because the prosecutor or police were racist, he was charged because he was guilty.

And cases like this are not rare. They even occur from the other side of the courtroom. The Duke lacrosse case is the perfect example. Prominent African American figures like Al Sharpton rushed to inject race into a case without getting the facts. Did Sharpton and others from the black community apologize for labeling these three boys as racists? No. They don't care that their unfounded claims of guilt and racism almost ruined these boys' lives.

So, in conclusion, we should wait to get all the facts before rushing to label this a racist issue. The legal system should be allowed to work without the injected tension of racism from outside sources. After all, the "Jena 6" did jump an unarmed person 6-on-1, beat him to a pulp, while yelling that they were going to kill him. And I'm not saying that there is no race issue involved in Jena, I just believe the issue should be resolved by the legal system before the same old political leaders jump on the racism bandwagon. And as forward-thinking as many of us on the college campus profess to be, we too should not rush to cry racism just because the accused are a racial minority. That, itself, is racism as well.

Daniel Simpson

Trinity '11