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Newsline: October 2007 President Floyd Joins ‘Jena 6’ Protest in NYC
Conditions at Jena High School were ripe for trouble... Students of different races usually sat apart on campus. Black students sat on bleachers and white students sat under a large shade tree, referred to as the “white tree.” Vann opened the conference noting that Jena is one of thousands of U.S. towns where African-Americans have little representation. “We’re here because people like Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King fought the good fight,” said Vann, adding, “They need to know we are connected.” “I am appalled by the developments in Jena,” said Floyd. “I stand shoulder to shoulder with Councilman Vann and all who are here demanding justice for the Jena Six. Labor is with you. We have to fight all over again.” A rally calling for “Justice for Jena” was also held Sept. 20 on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall, sponsored by Assemblyman Karim Camara, Friends of Justice, and National Action Network. The Jena Six case has rekindled a nationwide civil rights movement reminiscent of the 1950s and ’60s as busloads of African-Americans arrived in Jena on Sept. 20, led by the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. The march filled the streets and stretched for miles with protesters chanting slogans from the civil rights era and waving signs saying “Free Jena 6.. The Jena Six court case began in December, when six black youths were accused of beating a white classmate unconscious. One student, Mychall Bell, 17, was convicted in June of aggravated battery and conspiracy, but those charges were voided a few days before the protest on the grounds that Bell was a minor at the time of the incident. At press time, Bell has not been released from jail as district attorneys decide whether to appeal or bring juvenile charges. Conditions at Jena High School were ripe for trouble in the fall of 2006. Students of different races usually sat apart on campus. Black students sat on bleachers and white students sat under a large shade tree, referred to as the “white tree.” When a black student asked the principal permission to sit under the tree, the next day nooses appeared hanging from it. When the principal learned that three white students were responsible, he recommended their expulsion, but the board of education opted for a three-day suspension, calling the noose hanging an “adolescent prank.” The so-called prank, symbolizing Jim Crow era lynchings, fits the description of a federal hate crime, and sparked several interracial incidents culminating in the beating of the white student, said to be a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses. After receiving medical treatment for injuries from the beating, the white student was well enough to attend a school event later that evening. The six black students did not fare as well. They were expelled, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder, and their bails were set so high that they remained in prison for several months while their families suffered serious debt to have them released. |
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Just days before a massive civil rights protest of 10,000 demonstrators descended on Jena, La., President Gregory Floyd spoke at a City Hall press conference calling for justice for the six African-American teenagers who were arrested and initially charged with attempted
murder in the beating of a white classmate following bias-related incidents in Jena last year.