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September 20, 2007

Update: A local presence at 'Jena Six' protest march

Some staff members at the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies have been working for decades to teach students and activists around the country and the world the tenets of nonviolent protest.

Today, their practices were put to use -- on a scale not seen since the civil rights movement -- in the small town of Jena, La., where reports say as many as 50,000 people came from across the country to protest what they see as a new threat to social justice.

The protesters came to march in defense of six black high school students facing decades in jail after a fight.

Five of the teenagers, who have come to be known as the “Jena Six,” were charged with attempted murder after a fight. They are accused of assaulting a white student months after a noose was hung on a tree that black students sat under.

The victim was bruised, swollen and suffered a concussion, but was released from the hospital the same day and attended a school function that evening.

“They’re criminalizing children rather than educating them,” Bernard LaFayette, the director of the URI center and a long-time civil rights advocate, said today.

“This is a nationwide problem, but because of the extremity in Jena, it becomes an example of how far it could go.”

While not at the march in Jena, LaFayette was in Washington D.C., meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. “Nothing changes without leadership,” he said.

However, his co-worker, Charles Alphin, did attend the march. He went to Jena to help train people at the protest in nonviolent conflict resolution and protest.

Charles Steele, Jr., the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by the late Martin Luther King Jr., was at the protest, where he said the mood was “awesome."

“It was very peaceful, even the local law officers were very nice, as well as state troopers, sheriffs … they were very hospitable in terms of us coming here.”

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson, with wire reports

Steele said the goal of the event was to get 16-year-old Mychal Bell -- the only of the six to have been tried – out of jail, where he awaits sentencing. Ultimately, he added, the goal is to get charges dropped against all of the teenagers.

And while the march is over for the day, he said his work is not.

“We’re not just coming in there, having a march, and leaving. We must set up residence there, a presence in the community.”

LaFayette says he is working on policy issues. “We need to get lawmakers, judges and people with power to change laws. Like we did with the voting rights act, he said.

“The center in Rhode Island and the work that I’m doing is working through the system and the people who are in power, so it’s top down,” he said. “And Jena is bottom up.”

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 3:57 PM | Permalink

Comments

If 6 white kids beat a black kid into unconsciousness, Sharpton and Jackson would want them strung up in the town square at high noon.

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are more racist than any stupid white kid who ever hung a noose from a tree.

B | September 20, 2007 7:53 PM link

Couldn't find any crime law in the books to enable the arrest(s) for the noose!! How typical!
Sure found an arrest for a punch in the nose, and when did that law come into light! This is the most bogus arrest(s).I noticed the "TREE" is gone, WHY?? Where's the noose? The Noose is attemped murder to me! Should be some D&A on it! Or is that only in the movies! This smells bad because it is BAD! I think this will get smellier because an injustis such as this has to!!!
Remember, CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE!!!!!!!!

LAPinette | September 21, 2007 4:06 AM link

I am so sick of this racial stuff! It doesnt matter what color you are violence is violence. If you act like an animal you should be caged like one. As for the ones that hung the noose, they should held accountable for this to for instigating the whole thing!!!! We have enough going on in this world worrying about terrorist attacks a war that has gone on far too long to be acting like fools. Its people like Mr Jackson and Al Sharpton that give people a bad name only fighting for the things that suit them best. No wonder why everyone hates our country!!!

Outraged | September 21, 2007 11:08 AM link

September 20, 2007

Update: A local presence at 'Jena Six' protest march

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