Obama Chastized for "Acting Like He's White"

Reverend Jesse Jackson (apparently he's still around?) criticised Senator Barack Obama during a South Carolina interview on Tuesday for "acting like a white man" with regard to the "Jena Six."

If you (like me) missed all the hubbub about the "Jena Six," apparently six black students were charged for the racially motivated assault of a white student in December of 2006. Five of the six were originally charged with attempted murder, a rather outrageous treatment for a school-yard brawl, even in Louisiana. One of the six was controversially tried as an adult. His conviction has recently been overturned.

The situation has become something of an important cause in the black community. However, the fact that a news-phile like me can remember hearing nothing about it is not good.

Jackson later said he couldn't remember making the remark. He obviously wasn't thinking of white men like David Bowie, who just today gave £5,000 to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund operated by the NAACP.

To steal some words from Obama: Jackson is one of the reasons "we still have a lot of work to do as a nation to heal our racial tensions.”

posted by Gabriel Malor at 01:25 AM

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