Jena Brings Tears to My Eyes, of Sorry and of Hope

I'm not getting a lot of sleep because I'm trying to stay on top of developments, read the news coverage and see where things are going next.

This morning, I started to cry while reading reading a blog called Listen to me for a minute, by a brother named "Reginald M." who's from Jena, "a small town in Louisiana." His first post was on May 21, called:

"Racial Tension in a Small Louisiana Town: Jena in Brief."

He clearly was moved to start this blog because of the Jena Six, and I urged him to become part of the AfroSpear's Black Accused Support Groups (BASG's). I hat tipped him, (mentioned him at my blog), but I never heard from him, perhaps because he needs to keep his anonymity. Or maybe his blog was set up for him by an Afrosphere activist like me, who sets up blogs for others in order to publicize their situations.

Anyway, this is the comment I posted on his blog back on May 21: (I was the first person to comment on his blog, which I had found by Googling "Jena, noose, high school") :

"Racial Tension in a Small Louisiana Town"

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Francis L. Holland Blog disse...

The Afrosphere is a national and international group of Black bloggers dedicated to equality in the criminal and civil justice systems for Blacks and all Americans. Within the Afrosphere we have a group called the Black Accused Support Groups (BASG) that works with Black people, family, friends and communities, to assure that individual Blacks and all Blacks receive justice in the criminal justice system.

Our blogs have just become aware of the situation in Jena as a result of an article by Howard Witt, and we have begun reporting on the cases. We offer our support to individuals and the community, to publicize and strategize about solutions for Jena and and similar situations that exist, unfortunately, across throughout the United States of America.

Although Howard Witt is an excellent reporter, we should not have to read national white newspapers to find out what's going on in local Black communities. By linking all of our blogs together, we are able to stay on top of important stories before they are mentioned in the national press and even if they are never mentioned in the national press, because when all of our blogs are linked together, we become a national press.

May 21, 2007 8:32 AM

When I read that comment today, I start to cry, and my eyes are watering again now. We are never alone in the AfroSpear, as long as our blogs are linked, which is why we insist on the fundamental role of our AfroSpear linklist that unites each blog with all of the AfroSpear. That's our lifeline. And now I'm crying again.

Francis