Blast From the Past: Civil Rights Protest

On Sept 20th 2007 people from all over the United States went to Jena LA for the debate on the racial bias in the judicial system, and to protest for Civil Rights. Last year six black teenagers "The Jena Six" were arrested for beating a white schoolmate unconscious and kicking him and then the prosecutor charged them with attempted murder. Last year white students hung nooses from an oak tree were the black students would sit under, and the tree has been cut down. One of the black students Mychal Bell, 17, was convicted in June of aggravated battery and conspiracy. Those charges were voided and appealed by the courts last Friday, and Bell is still in jail.
More than 10,000 demonstrators went to Jena, and starting to protest. People were chanting slogans that were used during the Civil Rights Era. Some of the protesters like Eric Depradine said, "This is the first time something like this has happened for our generation". Charley Caldwell said, "You always heard about it from history books and relatives. This is a chance to experience it for ourselves". April Jones, one of the protesters, could not understand why the white students were not punished as badly they were only suspended. District Attorney J. Reed Walters said on Wednesday, "That the action did not appear to violate any state laws” taking about the white students not going to court, and he also said "I cannot overemphasize what a villainous act that was. The people that did it should be ashamed of what they unleashed on this town".



The 50's and 60's were the Civil Rights Movement. The start of the Civil Rights Movement was in 1945 Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka it was a fight for the equality in the school system. Before the Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka black and white students were separated, and had to go to different schools. This did not break the 14th amendment, because blacks were still getting an education. The Supreme Court made it legal for white and black students to go to the same school. In the Southern parts of The United States mothers and fathers would protest for their kids not to go to school with another kid of the opposite race. The protest would get violent. Then the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it outlaws decimation and separation. This Act made everyone equal including women, for races, and religious views.