The Gantt Report - It was good to see all of the old folks at the recent protests in Jena, Louisiana about the malicious and racially motivated prosecution of six teenagers.

However, it was better to see the throngs of youth voice their opinions and show their faces at the important occasion.

Why was it better? It was better because every serious and major revolutionary movement the world was made possible by the involvement of young people.

The devilish beasts like to portray senior citizens as Black community leaders. Every time something happens in our communities the modern day imperialist press rushes to find a gray haired, pot bellied, Negro puppet to put a recalcitrant spin on the event or issue.

No, these comments are not to disparage or diminish the contributions of our parents and grandparents. This column is to wake up our sleeping youth and to let them know that God and history are on their side in the present battle for things that are right.

Uncle Tom and Jemima will take credit but it was high school students in Jena, Louisiana that rose up and said enough is enough!

Poverty pimps didn’t show up until TV cameras showed up and when the satellite trucks leave, Fiddler and Jezebel will leave Jena also.

If you know your world and American history you’ll know that Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Walter Sissulu, Oliver Tambo and Steve Biko all stood up against South African apartheid but it was school aged children that risked their lives to protest the mandatory use of Afrikans (Dutch) language in schools that prompted a world wide outcry.

Not only the struggle in Africa, the French revolution involved youth, the Russian revolution involved youth, the Cuban revolution involved youth, the American revolution involved youth and there was no “revolution” that involved more young people than the so-called "Negro Revolution" in the United States when students sat in at lunch counters and led bus boycotts.

Even Jesus Christ performed his first miracle as a young person.

Everyone says the fervor of the Jena protests that saw bus loads of activists from all across America converge on the tiny southern town will not last.

I disagree. I think priorities for young people will change when young people change their priorities.

Our youth have to seek out and support true community warriors and leave those Black “drug store Indians” alone.

The brothers and sisters that have been talking about judicial injustice and malicious prosecutions for years in the United States were not even consider or invited to participate in recent protests.

There are some not so young Black people ready to step up and join Black youth in their fights for equal rights and justice but our students and young adults must recognize and distinguish a true lion from a zoo lion!

One way for young people to continue to burn the flames for equal rights and justice is to get involved with Black newspapers. Black newspapers have always been a vehicle for us to plead our own cause.

The Internet is fast, global and all of that but the Internet can be censored.

A Black newspaper can be printed on notebook paper.

For local community organizing, Black newspapers, magazines and newsletters are an affordable way to get the message out and to stir the people up the way they should be stirred.

You did good Jena protesters, now keep it up or at least support the brothers and sisters that are standing up and speaking out for you!