Tougaloo Students March in Support of Jena 6
by Teressa Ann Fulgham, EDITOR
Students and staff of Tougaloo College traveled to Jena, LA to show support for the Jena 6.
The story of the Jena 6 began last September when a black Jena high school student asked the school administration if he could sit under the “white only” tree. The request was granted. The following day three nooses decorated in the schools colors hung from that same tree.
When the three white students responsible for the incident were identified, the principal recommended they be expelled from the school, but the white superintendent felt it was only a prank so they were only suspended three days.
On Dec. 1 a black student was beaten by a group of white students at a “white party”.
On Dec. 4 Justin Barker, a white student, was attacked by a group of black students for racial comments pertaining to the nooses and other racial slurs.
The six black students were arrested for beating Barker. They were charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The six were all immediately expelled from school.
“The situation in Jena is something you would hear about in textbooks,” said Ashlee Percy, 18, a freshmen education major from Vicksburg. “This is still going on today. It’s very sad my peers have to deal with these racial issues. This is so unfair.”
Tougaloo staffers also joined students in support of the Jena 6.
“I felt gladdened, but I was also worried,” said George Patterson, Tougaloo’s coordinator of student activities. “I was worried because it should have been 100,000 people instead of just 60,000. It was not as many people as it could have been because of the job the media and the community did in reporting Jena. There was not enough coverage of this. This story did not make CNN until the night after the march.
“I felt like I was in the greatest display of blackness I’ve ever seen in my life. You expect to see a big crowd for Capital City Classic, Essence Festival, and homecoming games. This was none of that. People were in uniform to support the Jena 6.
This was not a football game or a graduation. The sole reason for the support was that what happened in Jena was wrong,” Patterson said.
Xiomara Bell, 18, a freshman biology major from Tallulah, La said that racial issues of this magnitude have been happening for years. “This is ridiculous and this march is long overdue.”
Other students agreed that the march for civil rights was a great idea.
“It feels absolutely great to participate in this march,” said Earnest Ducksworth, 19, a freshman biology major from Hazlehurst. “As a young black man striving to make a change and to help lead this nation to be more racially accepting, marching for civil rights is a way to achieve this goal.”
There are even some students who have marched for civil rights before and are honored to do it again.
“My first civil rights movement was in my hometown, Columbia, SC to remove the Confederate flag from the state house building,” said Jarryd McKie, 20, a junior elementary education major. “The rush of unity, black power, and justice for all was so powerful. I promised myself that any civil rights movement that ever comes along again, I would be apart of it. On Sept. 20, 2007, I kept that promise. No justice, no peace. Free the Jena 6.” |
