Media Credit: Paul Wentzell Advertising junior Cory Matthews, center, yells in support of justice for six black students from Louisiana - known as the Jena 6 - who were charged in connection with the beating of a white male.

Media Credit: Paul Wentzell Misty Davis, a former resident of Jena, La., speaks out against racial violence on the steps of the West Mall Thursday morning.

The Concerned Black Student Coalition protested charges brought by LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters against six black high school students at a campus rally Thursday.

The Jena Six story began last fall when a black high school student, new to the rural Louisiana town, sat under what students called "the white tree." The next day, three nooses were hung from the tree in what a school district committee deemed a "prank."

Racial tensions among the Jena youth boiled over on Nov. 30, 2006 when a wing of Jena High School was burned. At a party the next night, one of the Jena Six, Robert Bailey, was beaten.

During an argument outside a convenience store on Dec. 2, a white student allegedly pulled a gun on Bailey. When Bailey and some friends wrestled the gun away from the white student, Bailey was charged for theft of a weapon and robbery. The white student was not charged for pulling the gun.

The six black students allegedly beat Justin Barker, a white schoolmate, outside of Jena High School on Dec. 4. Barker was released from the hospital the same day.

Mychal Bell, then 16 years old, was tried and convicted as an adult for attempted murder in connection with the beating.

All charges against Bell were dropped after an appellate judge ruled that he never should have been tried as an adult in the first place. Charges against the remaining five students remain.

The UT campus rally was held in solidarity with the larger demonstration that took place in Jena, said Chad Stanton, president of the Black Student Alliance.

The Louisiana rally drew public figures including Rev. Al Sharpton and rapper Mos Def, who spoke to thousands of demonstrators.

"It really shows we will stand up for issues important to us and that there is real strength and power in the numbers we draw," said Danielle Hayes, a Black Graduate Students Association member.

The student-led demonstration started in front of Gregory Gymnasium and marched to the West Mall. Once at the West Mall, the crowd listened intently and many cheered as professors and students shared their views on Jena's national impact.

"Jena points to a large disparity in terms of how the criminal justice system works in this country," said Edmund Gordon, an associate anthropology professor and director of the Center for African and African-American Studies. "This problem is not confined to Jena, La. This is a nationwide racism."

District Attorney Walters and his office maintain that racism played no role in the charges brought against the Jena Six. Some students at the campus rally agreed.

"Some of [Gordon's] points target white people in the same way he says society targets black people," said Spanish sophomore Mariah Tantillo. "I'm all for equal rights, but this is ridiculous."

The ethnically diverse crowd demonstrated peacefully despite a few differing opinions.

"The diversity in the crowd is great. This is one of the best turnouts we've had," said marketing senior Ibraheem Abdul-Malik, a Black Student Alliance member.

Communication studies professor Dana Cloud called for unity among people of all races in the efforts to make sense of the Jena episode.

"We will continue to stand until we are free from a system that forces us to divide ourselves from each other," Cloud said.

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