Spring Break
'Jena 6' draw protesters nationwide
Brad Maxwell
Staff Writer
Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: News
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Demonstrations led by NAACP leaders, Black Panthers and others took place across the town, in the LaSalle Parish Courthouse, Jena High School and on street corners in between.
Protesters came from as far as Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles, as well as USC.
Ball and the other students, who are all black, face charges of attempted murder for beating up a white student.
Sadiah Rahim, 44, a U.S. postal worker from Manning, said she came to Jena to stand up for what's right and that it is more than a racial issue.
"We have become passive and not done anything against the wrongs," she said. "We need to stand up for the right."
Rahim said she didn't think the teens' sentence was a matter of racial tension.
"It was blatantly wrong," she said. "I think (the judge) would have been just as capable of doing this to a white kid or Mexican kid."
Rahim's daughter is a second-year USC student. Rahim's daughter was proud her mother went to Jena but had a hard time talking about the issue with her friends, the mother said.
"I want to set an example for my children," Rahim said.
Tresslyn Neff, 28, of Baton Rouge, La., got to Jena at 3 a.m. Thursday and had seen thousands of people by 9 a.m.
Neff said she stopped counting busloads of arriving protest groups at 60.
Leann Murphy, CEO of the Central Louisiana chapter of the American Red Cross, said the state police projected 10,000 to 60,000 people to come to the town with a population just under 3,000.
Most Jena businesses were shut down for the day, and the school was closed.
"The entire town shut down," said Jena business owner Sandra, 25. Sandra didn't want her last name printed because her husband works in law enforcement. "We didn't know what to expect or what the protesters had in mind," she said.
Surrounding the LaSalle Parish Courthouse were chanting demonstrators who listened and leaned on the words of speakers Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 8
Nancy
posted 9/21/07 @ 2:28 AM EST
The spelling of the child name has been mispelled
skipper
Sheldon "Chip"Rice
posted 9/21/07 @ 5:48 AM EST
The correct spelling is Mychal Bell not Ball. Evidently your copy editors had a long night!(smile)Lastly, a very successful march as I told WWL 870 radio in New Orleans yesterday. (Continued…)
DON
posted 9/21/07 @ 8:37 AM EST
Let the judicial system work...Tactics like this remind me of OJ case.
Chris
posted 9/21/07 @ 8:53 AM EST
Quote: "I think (the judge) would have been just as capable of doing this to a white kid or Mexican kid."
Reply: Incorrect analysis. The issue was not necessarily the judge rather the DA who gave the excessive charges. (Continued…)
P.C.
posted 9/21/07 @ 9:26 AM EST
If the white kid legally had the shotgun, then what are you going to charge him with? He was just trying to defend himself. I guess more white kids need guns if they're going to get jumped by large groups of blacks in Jena. (Continued…)
Elizabeth B.
posted 9/21/07 @ 12:18 PM EST
You state on page 2, "...stood where the oak tree once grew...". Did they chop down the oak tree? As an environmentalist and arborist, I must protest this action, if indeed, it occured. (Continued…)
andi
posted 9/21/07 @ 12:24 PM EST
"If the white kid legally had the shotgun, then what are you going to charge him with? He was just trying to defend himself. I guess more white kids need guns if they're going to get jumped by large groups of blacks in Jena. (Continued…)
P.C.
posted 9/22/07 @ 1:04 PM EST
Your intelligence astounds me. I'm glad you wrote this though because it illustrates the problem I think a lot of people have when talking about this whole situation in Jena. (Continued…)
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