My thought upon arriving at Jena, Louisiana, was how deserted and rural the town is. The landscape is quite different from North Carolina. The bus trip to the “Jena 6” rally felt like it took forever, and the anticipation was driving me nuts. I just wanted to get there.
The anticipation became even greater the next morning, Sept. 20 when we headed to Jena from our hotel in Alexandria. I did not know what to expect from the town or the people. I did not know how many people would be there. I just knew that I could not wait to be a part of history; something that would be in books years down the road and that I could tell my children and grandchildren about. I had always wondered what the Civil Rights Movement was like, and I wanted something reminiscent of that experience.
The closer we got to the town, the more my eyes widened. The town was loaded with charter buses and motorcycles, and there were African-Americans everywhere. All wearing some sort of “support Jena” T-shirt.
Because of the number of people rallying for the cause, our bus had to park a couple of miles away from the town. When I stepped off the bus, I was in awe. I was so amazed, because I had never seen anything like that before. The kindred spirit I felt from everyone was indescribable.
While walking up to the town, we saw Mychal Bell’s brother and cousins, and they expressed their gratitude for our being there.
We rallied with Jesse Jackson and the NAACP, and there were so many people marching. An American Red Cross vehicle was set up on the side of the road with bins full of Gatorade, chips, cookies, granola bars and just about everything else. That was a nice gesture; it made me feel like we were accepted there.
Everyone was expressing their support in different ways. There were African dancers in front of the courthouse. One negative image I remember was a man standing atop an RV, telling everyone to do the Electric Slide and “party for a cause.” I did not think a party was appropriate at that day and time.
At one point, there were so many people just standing around, I began to interview people on their experiences from that day. Aman from the “New” Black Panther Party was there. When asked if he felt like anything was being accomplished on that day, he responded, “If everyone came to be around a bunch of black people, then yes; but what will be different when we’ve dissembled?”
It was amazing that someone would say something negative about a positive event, but the truth is, I felt that way, too. We came to rally, but at the same time, we could have done more. I felt incomplete at one point in the day, but by the time our group left, I felt some sort of minute satisfaction. I also remember that no native of Jena wanted to be put on camera; it was as if they were so afraid to speak out, for fear of persecution. They did not want trouble. Even though it was not given as much media coverage as O.J. Simpson’s raid on someone’s hotel room, the experience was one that will forever be remembered.