Journey to Jena - Part 2

The courthouse was the designated location for the main speakers for that morning.  Rev Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, Michael Baisden and others were to speak sometime that morning.  I hung around there for a minute, and then I heard a crowd chanting and walking away from the courthouse.  My impatience led me to follow that crowd.  We walked toward Jena High School chanting, “No Justice, No Peace”.  A brotha on the megaphone would say, “We’re gonna keep on coming,” and we’d keep chanting, “No Justice, No Peace”.  Since I had never been in a march before, it felt weird to chant.  I started saying the words softly to myself as I held my voice recorder in the air and made my way to the guy on the megaphone.  Once I got close to him and could hear him better, I started to chant loudly myself.  CNN and local TV station cameras were all around him.  We made our way to the Jena High School sign, which was located at a corner.  While turning the corner, everyone took a picture near the sign. 

 About a hundred yards from the sign, I noticed two things that drew similar reactions.  The first thing that I noticed was that on the left side of the street, there were about 5 police officers on horseback.  All I could think about was how we black folks have been abused by such police officers in the 1960s.  I just stared at them and pressed on.  The second thing that I noticed was that on the right side of the street, a local radio station had set up a booth.  I was upset at that station because instead of playing some uplifting music or speeches, they were playing booty-shaking music.  The DJ was asking people to represent as he shouted out the cities and states that they were from.  He yelled out, “New York”, and New Yorkers would shout, “Atlanta,” and Atlanta people would scream.  We were marching and chanting (cameras watching), then all of a sudden this loud music and irritating DJ drowned out that portion of the march.  I was sooo pissed off!  I thought they were turning this monumental event into a profit-seeking venture.  Not only that particular radio station, but there were many vendors taking advantage of the situation as well.  “Free The Jena 6” t-shirts were selling like crazy.  Even white people in Jena were selling Jena 6 t-shirts.  I must admit that I bought one from some black folks in Alexandria.

Once we got to Jena High School, I was shocked to see students from my alma mater, Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, TX).  I overheard a young lady tell another girl that she was interviewing TCU students.  Based on my four years at TCU (1996-2000), I never thought that I’d see as many black TCU students participate in a march for equality.  Once I heard the young lady, I introduced myself, said a few words, and moved on to accomplish more of my own voice recorded interviews. 

The interviews that I accomplished were excellent.  I’d start off by asking people, “Why are you here.”  I got varied answers, but the one consistent response that I received was that they were encouraged by seeing so many black people march in such a peaceful manner.  Most of them had never been around so many black people, so it was an empowering moment.  Folks that I spoke with came from as far as Wisconsin, New York, and California.  I even interviewed some folks from Jamaica, and even my native country, Panama.

Although I didn’t stay at the courthouse to hear the main speakers, there were many speakers at the high school that we listened to.  Among them was the son of motivational speaker, Les Brown.  His nickname is “High Hopes”.  He, along with other folks, had some megaphones and they took turns speaking to the crowds that were at the high school.  Some of the speeches were good, and some were laced with hatred.  It was easy to decipher who wanted attention from who really wanted to educate us. 

In between listening to impromptu speeches, folks would try to locate the so-called “White Tree” that the black Jena students were informally denied from sitting under.  The tree was rumored to have been dug up prior to the march.  There was a big mound of dirt that was identified as being the previous location of the tree.  Folks stood on the mound to take pictures and make speeches.