Jena, La. – The Rev. Al Sharpton met Wednesday with a jailed black teenager whose arrest in the beating of a white classmate could draw thousands of protesters to this tiny town today.
“It breaks our hearts to see him in handcuffs and leg shackles, but his spirit is high,” Sharpton said after his courthouse meeting Wednesday with Mychal Bell, one of the group of teenagers dubbed the “Jena Six” by their supporters.
Bell and four others originally faced trial as adults on attempted second-degree murder charges in connection with a December attack that left white classmate Justin Barker bloodied and unconscious. Another teen was booked as a juvenile, and charges have not been made public.
Sharpton and other critics accuse local prosecutors of being disproportionately harsh on black youths in Jena, where racial tensions have been high since three nooses were found in a tree on the high school campus a few months before Barker was beaten. Three white students were briefly suspended over the incident, but no charges were filed.
As the teens in the beating case have come up for arraignment, charges have been reduced, but critics of the local prosecutor are still crying foul. Bell, the only one of the six tried so far, was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery and faced a possible prison sentence of 15 years.
Today’s rally and march was to have coincided with his sentencing, but a state appeals court threw out his conviction last week, saying Bell, 16 at the time of the beating, should have been tried as a juvenile. The rally is to continue, however.
Bell remains jailed while prosecutors prepare an appeal.
The march could draw protesters from around the country to this central Louisiana town of about 3,500.
Marchers including Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Jesse Jackson will pass a tree stump at Jena High School – all that’s left of the tree where the nooses had been hung.
The tree had been a gathering spot for white students. The nooses were found after a black student asked school officials if blacks could sit there too.
Local events
In Denver, a group of local artists and activists have planned a “speak out” tonight in support of the Jena 6.
The event will take place at 6 p.m. at Blackberries cafe at 710 E. 26th Ave. in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. The rally will include speeches, a question- and-answer session, music and dance, and spoken-word presentations. Information will also be available on how to help members of the Jena 6 and on how to contact Jena and Louisiana officials.
Local filmmaker Donnie L. Betts said the idea for the rally grew out of community frustration over not knowing how to help.
“A lot of people think they don’t have a voice or they can’t do anything,” Betts said. “But if you give them the tools, they can do something.”
– John Ingold
