This was a historic day in Jena, Louisiana:
JENA, La. (AP) — Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
Not since the sixties has the nation seen this kind of gathering and this kind of emotion in the name of racial equality:
Elizabeth Redding, 63, of Willinboro, N.J., said she marched at Selma when she was in her 20s. "This is worse, because we didn't get the job done," she said as she walked up a hill leading to the park rally. "I never believed that this would be going on in 2007."
This link tells the sordid story of the Jena six, which starts:
This all began September 2006, when Black students challenged the school official about being able to sit under the WHITE TREE in the school yard! The official reportedly told the kids to feel free to sit wherever they wanted. The day after the black kids sat under the tree, three hangman’s nooses were found hanging from the tree.
The count of attendees could be in the tens of thousands. Here's Al Sharpton as reported in the Washington Post:
"There's Jenas in Atlanta, there's Jenas in New York, there's Jenas in Florida, and there are Jenas all over Texas," Sharpton told a raucous crowd Thursday morning. "This is the beginning of the 21st Century civil rights movement."
NPR has some good pictures. Other minorities are expressing solidarity and concern:
A few people are holding homemade posters that say "We want reparations." Chants of "We shall overcome!" are heard. A Latino man from East Los Angeles exclaims, "La Raza in solidarity with the Jena Six!"
And now Congressman Conyers will holding hearings soon:
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, the Detroit Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday he will hold a forum next week followed by congressional hearings on the "Jena Six."
This story has been told here on Kos several times this day alone. Some of the diaries include "Thousands Rally for Jena Six Day of Action" and "Rollback of Civil Rights Will Affect the 'Jena Six'". On Booman Tribune, the story has been told ably as "Thousands March for Jena 6", in which this part stings:
This is a major moment in our history. Not since the 1960's have we seen mass protests of racial injustices of this magnitude. I'm surprised that more progressive blogs are not posting about it, frankly. Hopefully that will change as the story percolates through the blogosphere.