Ga. students who support 'Jena 6,' will join others in Louisiana

<p>About 200 students marched from the Atlanta University Center campus to Centennial Olympic Park on Tuesday in support of the six black high-school students accused of attacking a white student in Jena, La.</p><p>The crowd of young people, mostly from Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University, held signs reading, "Stop the racist prosecution of the Jena 6," and chanted slogans like, "Until the Six are free, neither are we!"</p><p>Racial tensions at Jena High School became public when white students hung three nooses from a tree after a black student asked during assembly if black students could join the white students who gathered under its shade. Reports of racial fights and confrontations at the school followed, culminating in the December attack on Justin Barker.</p><p>On Thursday, between 5,000 and 40,000 people are expected to descend on the central Louisiana town of about 2,900 in support of Mychal Bell, whose conviction on an aggravated second-degree battery charge was overturned Friday, and five others not yet tried. Many are coming to protest what they consider excessive charges and bond for the youths.</p><p>Morehouse sophomore Koree Hood said that he was especially affected by the case as a young, black male.</p><p>"They represent us," Hood said as he marched towards the park. "We see an injustice in Jena, La. It's gone on for too long, and very few people knew it was happening today."</p><p>Hood said he is planning to join a bus caravan leaving from Atlanta on Wednesday.</p><p>Reginald McKinley, a senior at Morehouse and one of the organizers of Tuesday's rally in Atlanta, said it's important for young people to show up in Louisiana.</p><p>"We're here to make sure our voices are heard and to make sure they see support from their peers," McKinley said.</p><p>Tammy Timbers, a senior at Spelman College, said she first read about the case a month ago in the New York Times. The political science major said she immediately saw it as a violation of the 14th Amendment.</p><p>"Things like this happen all the time," Timbers said. "Jena Six is just getting a lot of publicity."</p><p>Also in Atlanta this week, the city council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution in support of the six young men.</p><p>And the Southern Christian Leadership Conference announced that the group will take buses to Jena and establish a temporary conflict resolution center there.</p><p>"People need an alternative to violence," SCLC President Charles Steele said on Tuesday. "That's the culture of Jena because of a lack of exposure, they don't know a better way. We're going to work with the local leadership there to provide (nonviolence) training."</p>