ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

09/20/2007

 

 

"We thank you for all the men and women than have gone forth and shed their blood so that we may stand in justice," prays the Catholic Evangelist Richard Lane, during a St. Louis rally in support of black high school students in Jena, Louisiana, where protests were held today. About 200 people came together at the Old Courthouse during a local demonstration in support of the teenagers who face attempted murder charges stemming from a racially tainted fight inside the school.

(Robert Cohen/P-D)

 

 

Several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the Old Courthouse today to protest what many called a racist double standard in the case of the "Jena 6," six black teenagers who are accused of beating a white high-school classmate in Jena, La.

 

Organizers of the rally and march here said it was one of many held across the country to echo the larger demonstration underway today in Jena, a town of about 3,000 in north-central Louisiana. Thousands of people, including three busloads from East St. Louis, gathered in Jena for the big rally.

At the Old Courthouse, protesters filled the western staircase and the nearby brick sidewalk. After speeches, chants and prayers, they marched around the courthouse carrying signs that read, "Jena 6, help is one the way," and simply, "Free the Jena 6."

 

Most in attendance wore black, as organizers had requested. Some came from their office jobs downtown, others in informal groups from St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, Hazelwood East High School and other schools and workplaces.

 

Zaki Baruti, veteran demonstration-leader and president of the local Universal African Peoples Organization, opened the noontime rally with a brief speech. As with many protest events in the past, Baruti said organizers chose the Old Courthouse because it was the original site of the Dred Scott case, in the decade before the Civil War.

 

"Here we are again, and it’s a doggone shame that in the year 2007 we have to gather in protest for basic human rights," Baruti said. "We have a long struggle ahead for our young people... Enough is enough. Free the Jena 6."

Protestors cheered him and interrupted with such well-known chants as, "No justice, no peace."

 

The event lasted about an hour.