Mychal Bell back in jail... I know I'm late!

I know I'm going to catch hell from most of you for stating my position on this, but who cares? Let me preface my posting by stating that ANY person who violates the conditions of their probation is subject to incarceration for violating the judge's order.

Here we have the case of Mychal Bell, one of the key people in the Jena '6' case whose prior criminal record was used to to keep him in jail. Again, we have self-appointed civil-rights leaders crying foul for something that happens to people regardless of their race or soci-economic status. It doesn't stop there though. Several high profile (and high falutin') black lawmakers have chided Congress and the US Attorney, Donald Washington for doing nothing about this case. I have to wonder, would congressional action change the fact the Mychal is a repeat juvenile offender?

So when Mychal Bell, this, young- teen- aged- victim- of- a- corrupt- justice system, was out committing crimes where the HELL were his damn parents? Why weren't Al Sharpless and Jesse Jackass protesting? Why didn't Mychal's parents make a huge, national stink about their bad-assed child? Are we so desperate to re-create the Civil Rights Era that we'll take up ANY cause? Do we have such a romanticized ideal of Black America that we are blinded by our myriad shortcomings? Have we become so shell-shocked by white liberalism and paternalism that we've adandoned all common sense and commitments to personal responsibilty? Is the perception of Unity that important?

I realize that structural disadvantage and racial discrimination are still lingering problems in our society; they are systemic and undeniable. However, they existed prior to 1964 and black people survived; they existed prior to the Treaty of Tordesillas (the first declaration that Europeans used to relegate Africans to being chattle instead of people around the late 1400's) and we survived. Those obstacles still exist today, but we are equipped with more tools to level the playing field AND we are still surviving. Now, we need to use that strength of surviving and the lessons we learned from surviving to move forward; even when we are wrong.