Students walk out in solidarity with Jena 6

On Oct. 1, tens of thousands of students on high school and college campuses across the country participated in the National Student Walkout in Support of the Jena 6. A coalition of Hip Hop artists, including Mos Def and Talib Kweli, had called on the students to walk out, along with a number of organizations including the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Sankofa Community Empowerment, and the National Hip Hop Political Convention.

Students on more than 100 campuses across the country participated in the walkout.

Under the banner of “We all live in Jena,” students in many different cities and towns demonstrated their solidarity with the six teenagers arrested in Jena, La., and their outrage at the racist, criminal injustice system that seeks to systematically criminalize and imprison millions of Black youth.

The list of demands included in the call for the walkout included the dropping of all charges against the Jena 6, the investigation of District Attorney Reed Walter for unethical and illegal practices, and the barring of Judge J.P. Mauffray from presiding over any part of the case.

On the University of Colorado campus, the Black Student Alliance organized a well-attended rally that featured live music and political poetry. Students held signs saying “Justice or just us?” and “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

In New York, on the Columbia University campus, more than 150 students walked out and participated in a march organized by a coalition of the Black Students Organization and the Muslim Student Association. As the students marched up Broadway, numerous people on the sidewalks read their signs and joined the march.

In Kentucky, more than 100 University of Louisville students walked out. A march organized by the Association of Black Students was followed by a town-hall-style forum where participants discussed issues of racism in the city of Louisville.

On the University of Massachusetts campus, more than 200 students and faculty members participated in a march organized by the Black Student Union. The march held up two lanes of traffic, with many stalled drivers honking their horns and raising their fists in support.

A recurring message at many of the student walkouts was that the blatant racism on display in the Jena 6 case was not limited to that town but was part of the systemic racism inherent to the criminal justice system and the prison-industrial complex. Speakers asserted that the events that transpired in Jena could happen anywhere. Many of the rallies and marches held as part the national walkout addressed issues of racism and police brutality faced in their local communities.

The massive and historic demonstrations on Sept. 20 and the national student walkout on Oct. 1 have highlighted the fact that a growing anti-racist movement is surging across the country. The Jena 6 case has galvanized resistance in communities nationwide. In the words of a speaker at the University of Louisville walkout, “This is only the beginning.”