To metro Detroiters, rally in Jena is a fight for equality

The Detroit Free Press reports:

It all feels too familiar for Harvey Roberts, Don Johnson, Geraldine McConnell and Gwen Felder.

There used to be lunch counters they could not eat at and floors at Hudson's where they could not shop. Now, "history is repeating itself," said McConnell, 67, of Southfield.

"In the early 1960s, we couldn't eat at a lunch counter. Now ... our kids are going through the same thing," said Roberts, 68, of Detroit.

They were among several hundred people traveling Wednesday by charter bus from Detroit to Jena, La., for a national protest today against what some believe is the disparate and excessive punishment of six African-American Jena High School students.

The group left Detroit at 10 a.m. Wednesday for the nearly 20-hour ride that will get supporters to town in time for a 9 a.m. rally. The group will head back at 2 p.m. today.

Known as the Jena Six, the students are facing possible prison sentences of 15-22 years in the beating of a white student in connection with a racially motivated school fight. Their case has become a national cause célèbre in the past two weeks. Pop star David Bowie has contributed $10,000 to their legal defense fund with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

This Jena Six story is pretty amazing,beat a white guy up and you get a lot of support.