Today in Labor History September 20, 2007: Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, United States, in support of six black youths (The Jena 6) who were being tried for assaulting a white classmate. Several were being tried as adults and all of them were facing stiff sentences that protesters felt were excessive and based on racism. Protesters came from as far away as Los Angeles and included civil rights activists Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Martin Luther King III, as well as rappers Mos Def, Ice Cube and Salt-n-Pepa. The assault had come in the wake of years of racial discrimination and violence against black youths in Jena, including the hanging of nooses from a tree in the school yard. The school superintendent was reported as saying "Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody." However, the FBI said the noose incident had all the markings of a hate crime. The youths convicted of the beating said they had beat the boy in response to racist comments he had made.

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