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No More Nooses: Thousands Storm Louisiana Town to Free Jena 6
By Daryl Hannah
September 20, 2007
The highly emotional Jena 6 case has resonated throughout America, especially in the black community. All through corporate America today, supporters of the six black teenagers wore black.
By 8 a.m., protestors dressed in all black filled parking lots and the streets of the small town. Watch video coverage of the rally and interviews with key players in the Jena 6 case on MSNBC.
Early estimates put the crowd at 30,000, including 500 busloads of protesters. Touting red, black and green flags and decorated umbrella tops that read "Jim Crow in Jena" and "Free Jena 6," protestors stood arm-to-arm chanting "Free Jena 6," according to video footage of the events.
For an in-depth perspective on why this issue is so critical, read the October 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine, out shortly.
Today, in 90-degree heat, the marchers protested the "excessive charges" and a "grave racial injustice." Others have called the Jena incident the opening of the 21st-century civil-rights movement. Martin Luther King III, son of slain civil-rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., remarked that the scene resembled the 1960s civil-rights marches.
Buses lined Louisiana Route 49 for more than 20 miles outside of Jena as city officials tried to control access to the city to avoid potential gridlock, allowing five tour buses into the town every 12 minutes, CNN reported.
The Jena 6—Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Theo Shaw, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis and an unidentified juvenile—were arrested on charges of attempted murder for beating white classmate Justin Barker and sending him to the hospital unconscious. Barker was released the same day. Watch Howard University students protest in Washington, D.C. on MSNBC.
Earlier this summer, District Attorney Reed Walters lessened the charges facing the teens to second-degree battery.
In June, Bell, now 17, was tried and convicted of second-degree battery. On Friday, a federal appeals court dismissed the charges, saying the case was erroneously tried; however, the same court deemed Bell's attorney's motion to have Bell released from prison prematurely. Bell has been incarcerated since December of last year.
In a press conference yesterday, Walters urged America to remember the "victim" in the incident, referring to Justin Barker, and assured viewers "race played no part in his decision to persue the case."
Citizens of Jena have remained adamant that the town is not racist. Residents say the town is safe and both blacks and whites get along. Jena is 85 percent white and between 12 and 15 percent black, according to census data.
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