 "Photo: Caitlin Coughlan")
By Stella Cernak Collegian Staff
Music blared, bongos were being played, and signs were held as hundreds of University of Massachusetts students and faculty marched yesterday as part of a national walkout in support of the "Jena 6."
The Jena 6 is a group of six black students at Jena High School in Louisiana who were charged by local district attorney Reed Walters with attempted murder after beating a white student last winter. The student, who sustained minor injuries, allegedly provoked the group with racial slurs.
The incident followed months of rising racial tensions within the town of Jena, which began in September when two black students sat under a tree that was a spot often occupied by white students. The following day, several disgruntled white students hung nooses from the tree to express their resentment toward the black students.
After the incident, many black students considered the punishment too lenient. The students' protests were silenced by Walters, however, who stated that he could "take their lives away with a stroke of his pen."
Over a year later, the first of the students to go on trial, Mychal Bell, 17, was tried as an adult for second-degree battery and could face up to 22 years in jail. In light of recent protest, the Louisiana court of appeals has considered trying Bell as a juvenile, but the ultimate decision rests with Walters.
The case has sparked controversy across the nation as numerous organizations, activists and artists have spoken out against the treatment of the "6". These groups promoted the national walkout, which over 100 campuses participated in at 1 p.m. yesterday. With the help of the Black Student Union, the Alana Caucus and the Student Government Association, who promoted the walkout around campus and on Facebook, the national movement was brought to UMass.
Judging by the hundreds of diverse faces and expressive posters held outside the Student Union yesterday, many UMass students got the message. Signs held by students promoted equality and denounced racism.
One sign read, "We are all equal," while another read, "One voice may not change the world, but it can inspire the voices that will." Other messages were firmer, such as one poster which displayed pictures of nooses accompanied with the words, "This is not a joke!" Most of the event's organizers also wore T-shirts with a firm message: a picture of two men being hanged and the question, "Just a prank?"
"It feels like the second coming of the Civil Rights Movement," said student Brandon Rainville, holding a plastic water cooler jug he used as a makeshift noisemaker during the march.
African American Studies Professor John Bracey also paralleled the event to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.
"These are the same issues as 40 years ago," he stated. Bracey made reference to Rosa Parks and how one particular situation can promote change and be the "straw that breaks the camel's back."
A petition to Walters over the judicial treatment of the six students circulated throughout the crowd as the group listened to several speakers. The first of these speakers was senior Danny Soto.
"People complain and say, 'how come every time something happens to a black person they say it's a race issue?' It is a race issue. There were nooses hanged."
He did add, however, that he was pleased by seeing a lot more support from white students than he expected and stated that "justice has no color."
Mohamed Vandi, member of the Black Student Union, agreed.
"We are going to make a statement," he said. "We are against racism and for justice and equality. It's not a black or white thing. It's a right or wrong thing. We all live together in this society."
Student Trustee Ruth Thompson stepped up in front of the crowd to give the history of the Jena case and to offer some words of encouragement.
"Let's all walk through this town and be loud and noisy as hell!" She exclaimed, accompanied by chants from the crowd.
The chants, alternated between Bracey's, "I'm fired up! Can't take no more!," "No Justice! No peace!" and "Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Racism has got to go!" as the group marched from the Student Union steps to Amherst Center holding up both lanes of traffic much to the amusement of those passing by. One truck driver patiently waited for the crowd to pass and exchanged a peace sign with several of the marchers.
Bracey said that what it comes down to is that "things are not indivisible. We need to look at every human we see and try to see ourselves in that person. Any injustice done to anybody is an injustice done to you!"
Stella Cernak can be reached at ccernak@student.umass.edu.
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