A Revival of the Civil Rights Movement

         Living in such a diverse city as Philadelphia we hear almost daily about tensions between the rich and the poor, the popular and the unpopular, black and white. But never in my life would I have imagined that I would hear of such an injustice as what went on last year in the small town of Jena, Louisiana.

         By my count the last large Civil Rights demonstrations took place in the 1950s and 1960s, when unfair treatment and injustice brought those who wished to see a change together to fight for what they believed was right. On September 20th, however, there was a call again to fight for the justice for all. Thousands gathered in Jena and in major cities around the country in support of the six teenagers who were charged with second degree battery and attempted murder for beating up a white classmate in December of last year.

         This is not where our story begins or ends; it is only the explosion that was set off many months of tension and ends with people rallying in support of the six boys. Back in September 2006, the beginning of the school year, a group of black teens asked school official if there was a rule against them sitting under a particular tree in the school yard, when they were told no, and thus sat under the tree. What the school officials failed to mention was that for this tree there was an unwritten rule—“whites only”—and the next day hanging from the branches were three nooses, representative of the days when lynching was a practice causing concern and outrage throughout the small community.                     

         Though according to the FBI, this action is considered a hate crime, the school officials let the three boys who pulled the “prank” off with a light suspension of a few days. This made tensions particularly high.  How could the school and the District Attorney not be concerned over this hateful action? Why hadn’t they done anything to send the message that this is unacceptable? As the school year went on tensions were lowered during football season, but when it was determined that an arsonist burned down one of the high school buildings the temperature started going up, blacks blamed whites, whites blamed blacks. Over the next few months tensions continued to mount, black students were assaulted at white parties, a white student pulled a shot-gun on three black students at a gas station. You can’t make this stuff up.

         The attack on Civil Rights and the right to equal protection under the law stems from a conversation that the District Attorney Reed Walters was asked to have with the black students in the school. He is quoted as saying he could “end their life with a stroke of the pen”. On December 4th, a fight broke out in the schoolyard that resulted in six black students being arrested and charged with second degree battery and conspiracy to commit murder, tried as adults. Now dubbed the Jena 6, September 20th marked the sentencing date of one of the boys, Mychal Bell, who was found guilty and faces up to 22 years in jail. While the boys actions are not to be condoned, it is the double standard of justice being used here that caused the tensions that erupted.  The events in Jena serve as a reminder to the rest of the country that there are still problems in our society and though we have come very far in the Civil Rights Movement, those who protested want to bring attention to this double standard and the unfairness present in our justice system today. We need to remember the injustice that happened in Jena and that continues to happen throughout our country. What needs to be done now is to learn from our past, look at what is still happening today, move forward and peacefully fight for change.