Next battle over Jena 6: Sept. 20

Thousands of people will converge on the small, rural town of Jena, La., on Sept. 20 to stand up for the Jena Six, six high school students fighting Jim Crow injustice in a case involving a schoolyard fight between Black and white students.

Last week charges were reduced for three of the Jena Six, but Mychal Bell, the only one of the six to be tried and convicted, will be sentenced on Sept. 20 and could still face 22 years in prison.

Chartered buses from around the country will assemble in nearby Alexandria during Sept. 20’s pre-dawn hours and caravan the 45 minutes to Jena. Folks will gather at 7:30 a.m. at the LaSalle Parish courthouse square to prepare for an 8 a.m. march. At 9 a.m. court proceedings will begin.

The case of the Jena Six has drawn nationwide support from progressive activists, civil rights leaders, community organizers and trade unionists. Celebrities, radio talk show hosts and comedians are joining in and the population of Jena could easily double on Sept. 20. Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King III will be there.

Racism in Louisiana has been a constant for centuries but this case of the Jena Six began last fall when Black students at the high school sat under a “white” tree during lunch. The next day there were three nooses hung in the tree. The responsible students were first suspended, but the superintendent of schools let them back in school, characterizing their actions as a childish prank.

Tensions escalated. The district attorney visited the school accompanied by police and told the Black students to stop their protesting or he could take their lives away with the stroke of his pen.

In the ensuing weeks and months, there were fights and skirmishes initiated by white students, including an incident where a gun was drawn on Black students at a convenience store in town.

Then last December, after another fight, a white student was taken to the hospital and later released. That’s when the six young men were charged with “attempted murder.” No one brought charges against the white with the gun at the convenience store, though he actually had a weapon.

Each of the six—Curwin Jones, Mychal Bell, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis, Robert Bailey Jr. and an unnamed juvenile—was charged with attempted second degree murder and conspiracy to commit a crime.

When this happened, most people had never heard of Jena, which has only 3,000 residents. The small Black community of 300 people felt vulnerable and isolated. Bail was high and the students sat in jail.

But the word of this case got out and began to spread. Support started building. Lawyers began to volunteer to defend the young men. When Bell was to have been sentenced on July 31, more than 300 people came to Jena even though the sentencing had been postponed.

Last month, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III traveled to Jena to visit the imprisoned Mychal Bell and to pray with Bell and community leaders.

A national conference call just took place with people from over 30 cities in on the call. The NAACP in Detroit is chartering a bus. The Millions More Movement in Houston has three buses reserved with vans as backup. United Auto Workers and postal workers unions are renting buses and car caravans are being planned throughout the South.

People will converge on Jena on Sept. 20 to demand freedom and justice for the Jena Six.