Students will rally at noon Monday at the EMU Amphitheater to protest racial injustice and show solidarity with six students arrested last spring in Jena, La.
Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy and Vice Provost of Institutional Equity and Diversity Charles Martinez are scheduled to speak at the rally. The Black Student Union, the Multicultural Center, and MEChA are among the groups hosting the event.
The controversy stems from an incident last spring where six black students aged 12 to 15 faced criminal charges for beating up a white student. The case made national headlines for weeks and resulted in one of the largest civil rights protests in decades when people from all over the country gathered in Jena in September.
Student Sen. Diego Hernandez said there wasn’t enough time at the beginning of the school year to organize a protest here. “Oregon (and) Washington, we didn’t really say anything,” he said.
But now students, faculty, and community members will gather to talk not only about Jena, but institutional racism and civil rights issues in Oregon, Hernandez said. As of Sunday afternoon, the event’s Facebook page had 180 confirmed guests and 350 who said they might show up.
Hernandez said topics will include African-Americans being incarcerated at a much higher rates than whites and other injustices in the legal system.
“We’re not gonna take it in Jena and we’re not gonna take it here,” he said.
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