Residents to join Louisiana protest

Rally over racially charged case involving students planned for Sept. 20

Originally, the school’s principal called for the expulsion of the three students who placed the nooses, but the school board stepped in and reduced their punishment to three days suspension.

The incident set off a series of racially charged disputes, including a number of brawls between white and black students.

In a December fight, six black students were arrested and charged with attempted murder. No white students were arrested in the fights.

One of the six black students, 17-year-old Mychal Bell, was convicted of attempted murder in June and will receive his sentence Sept. 20.

The attempted murder charge was reduced last week to aggravated second-degree battery by a judge.

Bell could face 15 years in prison.

The five other students – also charged with aggravated second-degree battery – are to be sentenced at a later date.

County residents, who believe the black students were unfairly targeted and penalized, are planning to attend the protest scheduled before Bell’s hearing.

‘‘There needs to be a collective voice of outcry from around the nation,” said Clinton resident Bob Ross, president of Surrattsville High School’s Parent Teacher Student Association and a member of the county NAACP. ‘‘We are the most affluent African-American county in the country, and we take [our status] for granted.”

Ross will lead a busload of 54 area residents to Jena to join a rally planned by several organizations outside the courthouse before the sentencing.

‘‘We work with a lot of high school kids, so when we saw this, we really felt like these are school kids having a fight and adults have interceded and taken it beyond where it needed to go,” said Catherine Ross, who is organizing the bus trip along with her husband. ‘‘Why did [white and black students] not both receive the same charges?”

Chartering a bus will cost $8,000 so the Ross’ are currently soliciting donations. Bob Ross said thus far $6,000 has been raised and local leaders are chipping in.

County Councilwoman Marilynn Bland (D-Dist. 9) of Clinton has set a goal to raise $3,000 to support the bus trip, according to her chief of staff, David Billings. So far, there are no plans for Bland or a representative to travel to the rally.

County leaders are praising residents’ participation as a way to lead the charge on racial discrimination both in small towns and in their own backyards.

‘‘I’m really concerned about what seems to be racism in 2007 and also what is going on at the University of Maryland,” said Mel Franklin, president of the Greater Marlboro Democratic Club, who donated $1,000.

On Sept. 6, a noose was found hanging in a tree at the University of Maryland, College Park, near a building that houses several black student organizations. County police have ruled the incident a hate crime, and it remains under investigation.

Those embarking on the Jena-bound trip see this as a historic moment for county leaders to take a stand on civil rights issues.

‘‘If people see Prince George’s County there, the message will be loud and clear that we won’t accept that here either,” said Sandra Pruitt, leader of People For Change in Prince George’s County, a local watchdog group.

Pruitt, of Mitchellville, plans to travel to Jena and hopes the leaders who attend will take the chance to develop a committee that can address ‘‘emergency” issues in the future.

‘‘Beyond Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, there is a new leadership of blacks,” Pruitt said. ‘‘And we are a force to be reckoned with.”

Protest organizers have asked those who are unable to attend the rally to wear black on Sept. 20 to show their support for the students.

Anyone wishing to be involved in the bus trip to Jena can call 240-305-7399.

E-mail Andrea Noble at anoble@gazette.net.