| Recently, I searched used bookstores for texts on pirates and marooned communities. Not looking for the pirates of Hollywood or the pirates of popular western folklore, I found it impossible to come up with books or information regarding Black pirates, freed ex-slaves and marooned enslaved who escaped the plantations to become sailors or establish communities throughout the Americas (North, Central, and Latin America) collectively with Native Americans and renegade Whites who rejected the business of enslavement. I noted the puzzled look I received from the bookstores' staff as I was directed to sections labeled "African American History." On ships where Blacks sailed as pirates, they were free and codes did not establish a hierarchy based on race. On land, in the marooned communities, Blacks (and often Native Indians and Africans) implemented agricultural, political, and cultural ideas for survival of the collective and further suggested the presence of egalitarian values and beliefs about democratic rule and freedom in the history of the Americas, in the history of the West. When the information and specific titles where not found in the "African American History" section, I was directed to the "History" section by staffers who were almost sure I would not find the information or titles there. And why not? The "History" sections had subsections: "U.S. History," "Great Britain History," "French History," "Russian History," "German History," and so on. "African History" is usually a section of its own, apart from African American and U.S. and the history of other western countries. The search was futile. But, by the time I left the last store, I was focused on the categorization of HISTORY. In predominantly White Madison, Wisconsin, with a major state university (also predominantly White), the absence of these texts on marooned communities and Black pirate sailors is telling. How does the learning about U.S. history happen with such separation and repression of history? It reflects a preference to divide even while claiming to be "democratic" and even while daring Black Americans to use the word "racism." Who benefits from this practice of segregation and repression? What interests does it serve? The marooned communities of Blacks and mixed races and the Black pirates who sailed and captained pirate ships were ultimately repressed --- the communities disbanded and the pirates, often, sold into slavery. Racial categorization was a necessary means to establish White/U.S. dominance in industry and, of course, capital. That is, Black labor was needed on the plantation fields yielding profits for Whites and assuring no competition from Blacks. We must be witnesses in this day and age of segregation and repressive practices. There are no Ella Bakers, no Malcolms, no James Merediths, no Fannie Lou Hamers, and no Martin Luther Kings to follow. The business of divide and conqueror for the purpose of maintaining White supremacy is alive and well. The challenge of the Jena 6, young Black students (15-17 years of age) who, in December of 2006, confronted the "subtle" segregation at Jena High School in Central Louisiana, is to be shelved away under the label "African American History" as problematic and incorrigible. Their experiences of repression denied and punished with prison time. The Jena 6, charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy, could face 100 years in prison for the beating of a White student who suffered a "concussion and multiple bruises," according to Democracy Now, a progressive news service that has featured this story and the parents of the students twice in recent weeks. This is the story mentally shelved away by White Americans as "Black crime," "Black violence," "problematic and incorrigible behavior." Shelved away or "out of print" and, therefore, out of mind are these images: a tree on the Jena High School campus where White students sit and then the image of three nooses hanging from the same tree after one Black student received permission -- permission to sit under the tree. These images question the U.S.'s idea of democracy and freedom. No action was taken against the White students who used mental energy to recall the lessons learned from history taught them about others who would dare to encroach in their space. When a fight ensued and the White student was beaten, action was taken to punish the Black students. Yet, another lesson, because they have the power of the legal institutions supported by the narrative of innocence/violence, Whites can and do indulge in racism and call this "subtle" behavior of entitlement, of privilege, freedom. There's a conspiracy, yes, because we are still attempting to "murder" a degenerate idea of freedom -- the right to practice segregation and repression. Caseptla Bailey, Tina Jones, and Marcus Jones and the other parents of these Black students need you to labor on your behalf because we are all the Jena 6 -- witnesses to this practice of segregation and repression. It is the history of this nation, and we represent the history of this practice and the resistance to it. Contact: Jena 6 Defense Committee P.O. Box 2798, Jena, LA 71342 |
| Voices/Dr. Jean Daniels A call to action: JENA6 |
 |