Jena 6 prompts local rally in Denver

DENVER - More than 200 people on Thursday gathered in the Five Points Neighborhood to rally support for the six black teens facing charges in the beating of a white classmate in Jena, Louisiana.

The rally took place on the same day that thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of the Louisiana town Thursday.

The crowd broke into chants of "Free the Jena Six" as the Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the local courthouse with family members of the jailed teens.

The six black teens were charged a few months after three white teens were accused of hanging nooses in a tree on their high school grounds. The white teens were suspended from school but weren't prosecuted. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder. That charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth was charged as a juvenile.

The beating victim, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.

Click here to read about the Louisiana rally.

Donnie Betts is one of five organizers of the Denver rally and says while the outrage centers around what happened to six black teens in the South, what's at stake is much more than race or region.

"It doesn't matter about the color of skin and we really don't feel it's a racial issue, but when it comes to this particular town (Jena), it is, but what we're talking about is justice, we want justice for these young people," said Betts.

Betts, an African-American, says what took place in the northern Louisiana town hit close to home.

"It could be my son, and I can't have that happen," said Betts.

The rally included several passionate speakers, music and spoken word. Organizers wanted to point out the diversity among those attending. Whites and Hispanics joined blacks at the rally.

Claire Ryder, a white woman who considers herself a community activist, says people of all races can take something away from the Jena Six case.

"Even though we've made strides, this reminds us how much farther we have to go, and how much longer it'll take to get there," Ryder said.

Mychal Bell, 16 at the time of the December attack, is the only one of the "Jena Six" to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult.

Thursday's rally, heavily promoted on black Web sites, blogs, radio and publications, had been planned to coincide with Bell's sentencing, but organizers decided to press ahead even after the conviction was thrown out. Bell remains jailed while prosecutors prepare an appeal. He has been unable to meet the $90,000 bond.