Vanguard

Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: News

On Sept. 20, what was deemed a "national day of action" by the Reverend Al Sharpton, University of South Alabama students and faculty gathered to protest the charges filed against six teens in the small town of Jena, La.
Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Robert Bailey Jr., Theo Shaw and a juvenile whose name cannot be released were arrested after a fight with a white classmate, Justin Barker, at their high school in Jena. The altercation stemmed from several incidents surrounded a "whites-only" tree on the school's campus, which came to a peak when nooses were hung from the branches after a black student sat under the tree.
Following this incident, three white students were expelled from school but the expulsion was decreased to a three-day suspension. They were not charged with committing a crime.
Over 50,000 people traveled to Jena to protest what the protesters saw as an uneven handling of justice. The protest was meant to coincide with the sentencing of Bell, but Bell's conviction was overthrown by the state's appeals court on the basis that he should not be tried as an adult. The Jena district attorney still has the option of retrying the case in juvenile court. The other five defendants still await trial.
Many local communities across the country showed support for the protest by wearing black and holding gatherings. Students and faculty at the University of South Alabama also held a rally on campus.
The African-American Student Association, under the leadership of new president, Dwaynetta Thomas, organized the small-scale rally in front of USA's Student Center.
"It was important for the students at USA to demonstrate their feelings towards the injustice being displayed in Jena," Thomas said. "I was so happy to see faculty as well as students come out to show their support, the staff more than anything."
At about 3:30 p.m., students and faculty joined hands and said a prayer for not only the six teenagers who were, at one point being charged with attempted murder for the schoolyard altercation, but for their families, friends and thousands of people across the nation anxiously waiting for a positive outcome.
AASA Treasurer Alisha Williams said she is saddened. She does not feel the students involved in the brawl should go without punishment, but agrees with many when stating the punishments given simply did not fit the crimes committed. She questioned a justice system that would originally charge five teenagers with attempted second-degree murder for a schoolyard fight.
Williams went on to express how pleased she was to see more than just African-American students present at the gathering.
"It was good to know that we can all come together and take a stand for something we truly believe in; take a stand for something meaningful that indirectly affects us all," Williams added.
Though thousands of protesters gathered in Jena on Thursday to show their dissatisfaction with the area's justice system, the courts denied a request to release Mychal Bell, 17, even though the appeal a week earlier threw out his conviction.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools