Color me confused. If I were to hold a rally, and I were to shout White Power! repeatedly, I'd be branded a racist. If I beat someone into a state of unconsciousness, and did so merely because of his race, I'd be charged with a hate crime. I doubt very seriously if two people would care to hold a rally, demanding that I not be charged with a crime.

Yet, in Jena, Mississippi, we have this exact situation occurring. If you've been living in a cave and don't know about the Jena situation (or, Jena-6 as it has been dubbed), here's the background: A black student at Jena High School asked if he could sit in a spot where white students normally congregated. He was told that he could. The next day, there were three nooses hanging from the tree, obviously designed to intimidate any black students that were going to occupy the space.

In proper fashion, the school's principal discovered the perpetrators and expelled them. The school's superintendent overruled the principal and instead gave each a three-day suspension. Black students protested under the tree. A white student taunted the black students, and six of the black students got up and beat the white student until he was unconscious.

The six students (the Jena-6) were charged with attempted second degree murder, but those charges were reduced the charges to second degree aggravated battery and conspiracy.

There are people who are defending the actions of the Jena-6 are claiming a lot of things, some of which are valid points and others that are idiotic. The valid points include the idea that racism seems to be alive and well in parts of Jena. The idiotic points, put forth by NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, include the idea that whites hanging a noose is a hate crime, but blacks beating the life out of a white kid is not.

This brings up yet another point. If I were to form a group called the NAAWP, or the National Association for the Advancement of White People, I'd be branded a racist, and rightfully so. In fact, such groups exist. You might know one of them as the KKK, or Ku Klux Klan. The Klan held a lot of power in the early part of the 20 th century, but now they are reduced to a bunch of nut fudge Neanderthals (my apologies for insulting any Neanderthals still around) that couldn't scrounge up enough power to blow their noses. And, that's a wonderful thing.

If Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Julian Bond genuinely cared about racial harmony and equality, they might follow the lead of their alleged hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, if memory serves, Dr. King was a man of peace, and while I don't claim to have known Dr. King personally (he was assassinated shortly before I was born), his message was one of Americans living in harmony and being able to see beyond racial lines. Sharpton, Jackson and Bond are intellectually dishonest with America (which is bad) as well as themselves (which is worse) when they claim they are carrying King's message.

Why is it okay to stand in front of a television camera and shout Black Power! repeatedly? Why don't people ask how that is any less racist than shouting White Power! or Asian Power! or Latino Power!? Yet, throngs of Americans get behind these people and few, if any, call them on the carpet. Instead, we have reporters smiling and giggling about how this is reminiscent of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s when it is nothing of the sort.

Racism is alive and well in parts of this country. And, it seems that we, as a country, are perfectly happy to continue to foster and promote racism, so long as the "right" people are being attacked. Racism is evil, and we should not, as a society, congratulate or elevate those who participate in evil action. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, brown, yellow or Venusian.