By JANEY ADAMS AND KATHY KIELY
Observer Staff

Spurred on by a recent wave of noose incidents around the country and the treatment of the so-called “Jena Six,” thousands of marchers surrounded the Justice Department in Washington on Friday to demand federal prosecution of racially motivated crimes.

Timeline of ‘Jena Six’ case

September 2006: Three nooses are found hanging from a tree in the courtyard at Jena High School in Jena, La. The three white students responsible are later suspended by the school’s principal.
November 2006: Arsonists set fire to a section of the school. A white teen beats up a black student who showed up at an all-white party; that teen is later charged with simple battery.
Dec. 4, 2006: A group of black students attack a white student. The black students are later expelled and charged with attempted second-degree murder.
June 25, 2007: Jena’s district attorney reduces attempted-murder charges against Mychal Bell, one of six teens charged in the attack, to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery.
June 28, 2007: An all-white jury convicts Bell on all charges.
Sept. 4, 2007: A judge throws out the conspiracy conviction in the Bell case, arguing Bell should not have been tried in adult court.
Sept. 14, 2007: A Louisiana appeals court throws out Bell’s aggravated second-degree battery conviction, ruling he was improperly tried as an adult.
Sept. 20, 2007: Thousands of protesters converge on Jena, La. — population 3,000 — in one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in years.
Sept. 27, 2007: Bell, the only one of the “Jena Six” incarcerated, is released from jail after having served nine months. Bell is later returned to jail for unrelated convictions.
Oct. 16, 2007: Justice Department officials tell Congress they are considering an investigation into allegations of racial bias in local law enforcement in Jena.
Nov. 16, 2007: Thousands of marchers rally in Washington, D.C., accusing the Justice Department of turning a blind eye to hate crimes.
Dec. 6, 2007: Bell is scheduled to go on trial for his alleged role in the Jena beating. He is being tried as a juvenile on aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy charges.

The march, which was organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton, began at Freedom Plaza, where impassioned speeches fired up an eager crowd.

“Just like we went to jail in the ’50s and in the ’60s, we are ready to raise hell and go to jail today,” said Charles Steele, president and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. “I don’t care who you think you are or what your station in life is, you’ve got to fight and fight back.”

Marchers held signs urging justice for the “Jena Six,” six black high-school students in Jena, La. The teens are accused of beating a white teen after a noose was found hanging from a tree in the school’s courtyard. The “Jena Six,” as they came to be called, were expelled and initially charged with attempted murder. The school’s principal called the noose a prank, and the white teens responsible were not prosecuted.

Since the Jena incident, nooses have been placed at schools, churches and offices across the country.

“When you hang up a noose, that’s no joke to us,” Sharpton said. “We were lynched. We were murdered. We’re not going to let you mock us and laugh at us.”

Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil-rights icon, said the rally’s mission was to wake up a sleeping Justice Department. “Any time there’s a hate crime, the Justice Department should prosecute. And a noose is certainly a hate crime. It should be a hate crime not just to people of color, but to all Americans.”

In a statement, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the Justice Department is committed to helping victims of hate crimes. “Although there are limitations and challenges in bringing successful hate crimes prosecutions, the department takes each case seriously, and is prepared to vindicate the rights of the victims when prosecution is warranted by the facts and by federal law.”

“We hope that all can agree that it is the criminals who commit violent acts of hate who deserve the loudest protest,” said Mukasey, who was sworn in on Wednesday.

Observer photos by KATHY KIELY
Frank Walker demonstrated for his sons.
Hear him explain.

Many of the demonstrators said they heard about the march on black radio stations or at church. Linda Killian, 52, came with a group organized by the Clinton Tabernacle AME Zion Church of Hickory, N.C. She brought her 10-year-old grandson, Joshua Killian, to give him “a legacy,” she said, “so he can know what’s going on.”

Some demonstrators were veterans of the 1960s civil rights protests; others were participating in their first march. “This is my time,” said Frank Walker of Arlington, Va.

Walker, 52, said he was marching for the future of his two grown sons. He said the youngest, a 23 year old, has been “stopped repeatedly” by local police for minor infractions. Walker considers it harassment.

“They would stop him and say something like, ‘Your tail light is out,’ and then they would end up searching the car,” Walker said. “They did that three times in, like, a 30-day period.”

A crowd thronged Freedom Plaza
before marching on the Justice Department.
Rebecca Churchman recalls the earlier
civil rights era.

His sons are more confused than angry, Walker said. “They don’t really understand because they grew up when everything was equal. They went to school with the white kids. They think everything is straight – above-board – until something happens, and still they don’t really see it yet. I’m out here today to fight for him so he won’t have to see it.”

For Rebecca Churchman, the march was a continuation of the activity she began during the civil rights movement of her youth. She was marching for her mother who supported her then. “She’s 84 years old and she can’t be here today, so I’m marching for her,” Churchman said.

She was also marching for her students. A retired school teacher, Churchman, 61, now volunteers in Maryland’s prison classrooms. Out of 36 men in one of her classes, 28 are serving life sentences, she said. One of them, now 26 years old, has been incarcerated since he was 14.

Churchman suspects a double standard. “An African American child will do something, they’re given strict sentences,” she said. “A Caucasian child does something, they have a problem.”