Southern Illinois University Students March for Jena 6

Black balloons marked the site and a message was sent.

Injustice will not be tolerated.

Operation Hope for Jena 6 was seen throughout campus Thursday evening as about 100 Carbondale community members marched in support of the six black high school students from Jena, La., who are being charged with second-degree aggravated battery and second-degree attempted murder, after many racial incidents beginning in August 2006.

The highly publicized ordeal began when white students hung three nooses from a tree on the high school campus after seeing black students sitting underneath it the day before.

The SIUC chapter president of Generation Change, Christina Colon, said she was upset that she only heard about this a few weeks ago.

"We get five minutes, if that, about racial discrimination going on," Colon said. "We felt we needed to do something about it."

Melodi Green, a third-year law student from Peoria and partial organizer of the march, said this injustice will not be tolerated.

"Stop the injustice. Stop the injustice now," Green said.

Organized as part of the Jena 6 National Day of Action, the march began at 6 p.m. The group gathered on the front lawn of the School of Law, where participants were able to take signs to carry and sign petitions for the support of the Jena 6. These petitions will be sent to the Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and the Jena District Attorney, Reed Walters.[Continue reading…]