As people across the country have taken to the streets in the past month in support of the Jena 6, more racist attacks and hate crimes are being reported. Racist attacks are a daily fact of life for African Americans and other oppressed nationalities in the United States. More recent attacks include a noose found at Columbia Teacher’s College in New York City, several nooses found near Hempstead, N.Y., including one at a police station, and two nooses found at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. The nooses in New London were found over the summer, but the discovery was not reported until the beginning of October after the Jena 6 case had reached national prominence. The first noose was found on July 15 in a Black cadet’s bag on board the Coast Guard cutter Eagle. The second was found in early August in the office of an officer performing race relations training in response to the incident on the Eagle. Racist acts involving the police or at military academies are not surprising since the police and military are tools of racist oppression in U.S. working-class communities and of imperialist war around the world. People in Connecticut have reacted with outrage at the Jena 6 case and the other attacks. On Sept. 29, over 200 people rallied to support the Jena 6 in Hartford. Another protest will take place on Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. in New Haven in front of the federal courthouse.
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