Fresh Loaf

Atlanta photographer Michael David Murphy headed to Jena, La., in June 2007 to observe and document the turmoil brewing around the Jena 6.

Murphy posted his photos and writings from the Sept. 20, 2007, protests in Jena on whileseated.org, as well as in a slideshow on YouTube. People flocked to the websites and commented profusely. He mined the more than 3,000 responses and fused them with his photographs to create a multimedia study on race and the kind of “conversation on race” that the uninhibited speech of the blogosphere can cultivate.

The Jena Project opens at Little Five Points’ Opal Gallery Fri., Sept. 12, 7-9 p.m., runs through Sept. 27, and includes a panel discussion at the Hammonds House Museum Sat., Sept. 20 at 2:30 p.m.

(Photo by Michael David Murphy)

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As someone who is constantly outraged by what doesn’t outrage other people, I found today’s column about the “Jena 6″ case by Amina Luqman in the Washington Post illuminating.

The passage that hit me in the gut:

When what happened in Jena has been reported, the media’s language has been tepid — marked by such phrases as “a town in turmoil” or “racial strife rips a town apart.”

This language presumes a legitimacy to both sides, a fair fight. Yet there is nothing balanced or fair about what is happening to these boys. Black Americans crave the same outrage the media rained down on Michael Vick for his unjustified abuse of dogs. For mainstream America, Vick’s actions were beyond debate. “How could he be so cruel?” we lamented. Whatever the reason, mainstream America said clearly that what Vick did was wrong. Shouldn’t America be at least as appalled by how Jena has treated these six black teens?

Wow.

Read the rest.

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