On July 23 more than 50 people, equally “white and black,” with a few exceptions all Natchezians, attended a Ser Seshs Ab Heter-C.M. Boxley Earthday (birthday) event at Bobby J’s Lounge. The event was a rally of support for six African American high school students now nationally and internationally known as “The Jena 6” who are caught up in a life interrupting 1950s-like Jim Crow social injustice situation stemming from an escalation of racial conflict at Jena High School in late 2006.

It all began when black students asked for and received permission from the school’s principal to sit under the “white tree” on campus. The only tree on campus was traditionally where white students gathered.

The next day three-hangman rope nooses were seen hanging from the tree, which angered black students. A series of escalating racial conflict first instigated by white students and adults against black students resulted in fights and demonstrations.

School officials and townspeople dismissed the hangman nooses as a youth prank.

Six black students were arrested for allegedly beating a white student at school. No white students were arrested or suspended from school for their part in an unprovoked beating of a black student who had sat under the “white tree” or in another off-campus confrontation of black students with a sawed-off shotgun.

The local district attorney aggressively escalated the charges against the Jena 6; publicly proclaiming he would seek the maximum sentence if they were convicted.

Four of the Jena 6’s parents attended my fundraiser including the father of the one student who was convicted on district attorney’s reduced charges by an all white jury and is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. The student whom his father says is innocent faces 22 years in prison if the conviction is not appealed and overturned.

The four parents along with the Concordia-Catahoula parishes NAACP president provided detail by detail of the historical racial discord and inequities existing in Jena. They spoke about the extensive specifics of the “racially biased political lynching of their star-athlete sons.”

In response, people in attendance came forth and donated funds to the parents in the name of their Jena 6 Defense Committee as birthday gifts to me. In all, contributions amounted to $1,016. Additional contributions are still being made by concerned Natchez residents.

An additional $250 has been received as of the writing of this press statement.

The Jena 6 situation has attracted national and international outrage and attention. Outcry for justice for the Jena 6 is ever increasing. A nationwide call has been issued for supporters and seekers of racial justice to descend upon Jena’s Courthouse at 9 a.m. Tuesday when Jena 6 member Mychal Bell is to be sentenced.

Miss-Lou residents who stand for racial justice are asked to join a Natchez/Mississippi car caravan to Jena, La., in support of the Jena 6. The caravan will depart from the Natchez Visitors Center’s parking lot at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Ser Seshs Ab Heter-C.M. Boxley is a Natchez resident.