Journey to Jena – Part 1
January 28, 2008 by Gregorio
Filed under Travel Tales From...
I heard about the Jena 6 March on XM satellite radio station 169, “The Power”, which is the only African American talk station in the US. Coincidentally, I was on my way from Fayetteville, NC to San Antonio, TX due to my recent separation from the US Air Force. I decided to drive out on September 19th, immediately after signing paperwork to sell my house to the next owner. The timing could not have been better. All of the hotels in the nearest city, Alexandria, LA, were booked up so I got a room at a nearby military base, Fort Polk. I drove from Fayetteville, NC and arrived at Fort Polk at 2AM on September 20th, 2007. I showered, changed clothes, packed my backpack with snacks, and drove to the designated meeting place.
I hadn’t slept for more than 24 hours, but I knew that once I joined with other protesters, my energy would return. The Parish of Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria, LA was designated as the meeting place, according to the Michael Baisden Show (nationally syndicated music/talk show). The meeting time was supposed to be 5AM, and all of the protesters were informed that we’d be caravanned to the courthouse in Jena, LA. When I got to the Parish of Rapides Coliseum, I found out that it didn’t quite go down like that. First of all, at 5AM, I was one of about 50 people there, waiting to get picked up. It took about 2 hours for the parking lot to get filled to capacity. I met a lot of local people from Louisiana, California, and North Carolina…which is where I just drove from. I was excited to be around what I thought were “conscious” black folks. Buses started arriving at 9AM, but I noticed that all of the buses were filled with people already. Limousines arrived and folks started crowding around them. Rev Al Sharpton and Michael Baisden were in the limos. They came out, walked around, got back in the limos and took off to Jena. Meanwhile, hundreds of folks began to wonder when some empty buses would arrive. Rumors spread that the buses would come after the full buses left the parking lot; however, my skepticism kicked in so yours truly started to bum a ride on one of these full buses. I was by myself so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem to fill an empty seat on one of the full buses. Thirty minutes later, I, along with hundreds of others realized that we’d have to take ourselves to Jena. I didn’t want to drive there because I knew traffic would be ridiculous and if I got lost, I may end up dangling on some tree in some small Louisiana town…seriously. To make a long story short, I hitched a ride with a dude that I met in the parking lot. Let’s call him Gary, to protect his identity.
My whole idea about being around “conscious” black folks left my mind once I got into a conversation with Gary. He drove a nice Corvette, and kept going on and on about how many females he’s had sex with as a result of how nice his car was. He was my ride to Jena, so I just kept the peace as he went on and one about his pimpin ways and blasted his music so loud that folks were staring at us like, “Lord help these two brothas.” Before I got into his car, I went around the parking lot with a voice recorder, asking people about the experience of coming to the march. Some of those same people saw me later in the car and looked at me awkwardly.
On the way to Jena, the buses we were following stopped on the side of the road. When Gary finally cut down the music, we asked some folks what was going on. Apparently, there were so many people already in the town of Jena that the authorities decided to restrict any more access to the town. I was upset, but I tried to keep my cool in front of Gary, who I felt was actually there to scoop up females rather than protest the injustice toward the 6 students of Jena High School. The buses stretched for about a mile along the side of the road. Folks began to come out of their buses and aimlessly walked around with their cameras and camcorders. Traffic came to an absolute halt and Gary pumped up the music again. All I could hear for the next 10 minutes was, “Cisco Kid was a friend of mine…” Thank the Lord that after about 20 minutes of waiting, we noticed that the buses ahead of the pack were allowed to move ahead. We were back in business.
As we entered the town of Jena, we noticed that a truck with some nooses tied to it was coming out of Jena. I also noticed that we were on a two-lane road for a looong time. I didn’t notice any streetlights anywhere. Let’s just say that if I lived there, prior to driving through, I would have ensured that my tank was full and my “check engine” light was off. As we drove, I noticed that this looked like a ghost town. Window shades were drawn and cars weren’t located in parking lots or driveways. Keep in mind that this was about 10am on a Thursday. I saw many signs which read, “Closed”, “Keep off Property”, and “Private Property, Keep Out.” Gary found a parking spot, and as soon as we got out of the car, he met and started talking to some female, and I just walked off with other protesters.
I’ve been to many black conferences, HBCU sporting events, and Caribbean countries where we are the majority, but I’d never seen so many of us in one spot. It was a beautiful site to see. As I went around with my voice recorder, I recorded and interviewed police officers, high school students, ministers, HBCU students, predominantly white college students, activists, Nation of Islam members, fraternity members, sorority members, Black Panther Party leaders, and many more. The biggest impact on me was made by the amount of young people that participated in the march. There were tens of thousands of people there, of which about 40% were under 30 years of age. As I spoke with some of the high school students, I was surprised that many of them could speak with a clear understanding of the implications set forth by the injustice in Jena.
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