Lubbock Left

The Jena 6 are finally free after a misdemeanor plea deal on Friday. This result is a testament to the power of internet-era activism.

From an email from ColorOfChange.org organizer James Rucker:

Luckily for the Jena 6, hundreds of thousands of you got involved, and
the power of your participation changed the game. An amazing team of
lawyers worked tirelessly to achieve Friday’s outcome. Our staff
helped recruit them, and your financial contributions–over
$275,000–provided the bulk of the funds for their work. Jim Boren,
the coordinating attorney, said this about ColorOfChange members’
contribution: “None of this would have happened without you.”

But it wasn’t just lawyers and money. Over 300,000 of you wrote to
Governor Blanco and District Attorney Reed Walters. On September 20th,
2007, more than 10,000 of you went to Jena. Members who couldn’t make
it to Jena held more than 150 rallies and vigils across the country,
and made more than 6,000 phone calls to elected officials in
Louisiana. And a few weeks later, ColorOfChange members sent almost
4,000 complaints demanding an inquiry into the DA’s actions.

Your actions offline and online helped put Jena on the map and
resulted in critical coverage in every mainstream news outlet. You
started a movement that made it impossible for Louisiana officials to
support the status quo.

For me, this is a validation that a little bit of activism from a lot of people goes a long way. (Similarly, a lot of people each giving a little bit of money can break fundraising records!) The freedom of the Jena 6 gives me hope that we will win the fight for a public health care option, clean/green energy, quality public education, protection of civil liberties, and so forth.

When you encounter and online petition for a cause you care about and feel the urge to sign it, do it. When you have time to show up at a political or service event, do it. (The recent health care day of service comes to mind as a good example.) When a candidate you care about says that a $5 donation matters to their campaign, it does.

Sometimes even just a little bit of activism can have very real, very easy-to-see consequences.

Finally, James Rucker’s email said something else that I think is important and will be expanding on in future posts:

While this is a great moment, it’s important to remember that if it
were not for the extreme nature of this case, most of us wouldn’t have
known about it or gotten involved. The reality is that there are
countless Jena 6’s: young people–often Black and male–who are
overcharged or unduly criminalized, and whose plight is unknown to
most of the outside world.

It’s the reason our work cannot just be about identifying and fighting
for individuals railroaded by the system, but about creating systemic
change in criminal justice in America.

(my emphasis)

One advantage that progressive activists have is our understanding that real change is systemic. We can celebrate individual victories along the way, but the work isn’t done until the big picture is developed.