Guest Columnist | The revolution will not be televised

The saying goes, "If a tree falls down in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

A timelier question would be, "If an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 rally in Jena, Louisiana, in protest of a case of unequal justice ignored by the mainstream media, does it matter?"

I'm no philosophy major, but the answer is a resounding yes.

The now-infamous Jena Six case involves six black teens who were originally charged as adults with attempted murder. Apparently, in Jena beating a white student in a schoolyard fight is legal grounds for attempted murder.

It began in August 2006. White students, provoked by the audacity of black students sitting in a "white only" area, hung a noose from a schoolyard tree. Dismissed as a "prank," the school board overruled the expulsion of the culprits.

In months of ensuing altercations, no charges were filed against white students for beating up a black teen while the Jena Six were facing murder charges for a fight which left their victim well enough to attend a social event that same evening.

After being covered for months by black radio and media, the story has finally reached the masses.

With the reduction of charges and the release last week of defendant Mychal Bell on bail, more attention is being paid to the Jena Six, but it begs the question how this story went unnoticed for so long in the mainstream media.

I was terribly disappointed by the lack of racial diversity in the overwhelmingly black crowds at the various demonstrations. Mainstream America was fervent in championing the cause of animal rights in the Michael Vick scandal, but not quite as boisterous when it came to the lives of six black teenagers.

Given the copious amount of airtime and newsprint spent on the Michael Vick and O.J. Simspon nonsense, is there any time left for real issues? It is a sad testament to our culture that despite around-the-clock cable and online news, stories of blacks getting themselves into trouble, rather than real injustices, almost always receive more press and strike a stronger nerve with Americans.

Many Penn students were equally uninformed of the movement until quite recently. A number of black students at Penn could be seen wearing all black as a symbol of acknowledgement on Sept. 20, the day of the rally. However, for the overwhelming majority of the student body, it was just another Thursday.

As supposedly enlightened college students, ignorance is unacceptable. To stay in touch with the world around us, Penn students need to get in the habit of checking a diverse array of sources for news rather than lackadaisically waiting for their college newspaper or favorite cable talk show to raise an issue.

For those interested in receiving a breadth of information, Web sites such as Google News and the Drudge Report compile dozens of headlines from the Associated Press and a slew of news wires. Instead of clicking the international tab on CNN.com, the BBC News site has tabs dedicated to each of the major continents. I make a habit of reading their coverage of the Americas,as they catch stories the U.S. media overlooks, such as their commentary on the Jena Six back in May.

Perhaps a more convenient as well as unconventional source of information is your very own Facebook News Feed.

Instead of procrastinating online gawking at your friends' drunken escapades, take a moment next time to note what political groups and news articles your friends are posting, particularly those at other campuses.

Numerous Penn students I spoke with said their first introduction to the Jena Six came from this unlikely source.

Facebook groups created by concerned students from Temple and other universities with significantly large black populations were instrumental in organizing protesters and advertising the details for the Philadelphia demonstrations.

I am not here to ring the alarm on racial inequality in the media. It should not have taken this column to convince you of that. But what does it take to make us care about injustice when the victim doesn't look like ourselves?

I am well aware that Penn is not the most activist campus, and I was not expecting a march down Locust Walk.

However let's take this experience as a reminder to step outside our Ivy League bubble every once in a while and give some attention to stories and issues that truly matter.

Simeon McMillan is a Wharton senior from Baldwin, N.Y. He is a regular contributor to the The Spin. His e-mail address is mcmillan@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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