UW-Madison students voiced their opinions on the Jena six case at Library Mall Wednesday to protest what they believed was unfair treatment against six black high school students in Louisiana.
Members of the Wisconsin Black Student Union, which helped organize the rally, addressed more than 200 students with issues such as social segregation and racial discrimination before marching up to the Madison courthouse.
“These are poster kids for what’s wrong with the judicial system, as well as what’s wrong with the educational system,” said Ingrid Smith, a UW-Madison senior and publicist for WBSU and president of Zeta Phi Beta sorority.
The protests are related to a December 2006 incident at a high school in Jena, in which six black students at the school assaulted a white Jena high school student.
The six students were arrested, charged with second-degree attempted murder and jailed with bail set between $70,000 and $138,000—too high for the families to pay.
Thousands of people from across the country marched in Jena last week to make a stand and show support for the families of the six students, now known as the Jena six. Only one student’s trial has been seen in court.
UW-Madison sophomore and president of WBSU, David Wright, said as a black student organization on campus people felt they needed to do something to raise awareness and show support.
“I hope that we can get the information out there—racism still exists,” Wright said. “It’s better than it was but people say, ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same.’”
Wright said the rally is also meant to address racial issues on UW-Madison’s campus.
“Students need to illuminate the issues with our voices,” said Ashley Ware, a UW-Madison sophomore and member of WBSU, before the march.
“There are still places that black students on this campus do not feel comfortable going to because of how they may be perceived.”
Students were encouraged to write statements on poster board and listened as letters written by state Rep. Jason Fields and Sen. Spencer Coggs were read, comparing their fight for injustice to those of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“This is not an isolated event,” Smith said. “There’s a Jena six, there’s a Wisconsin six, there’s an Illinois six—there’s a six, 10, 12, 20. There are millions of black men and women, of Latino men and women … as well as white men and women who experience these very bad injustices.”
