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Jena 6 Protest
At the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, nooses in school colors hung from a tree at Jena High School in Louisiana. District administration characterized the incident a harmless prank. Racial tensions flared throughout the semester. By December, a fight broke out, with one white student hospitalized and released later that evening in time to attend a school function. The young black male students involved were charged with attempted murder. As their trials caught media attention, they came to be known as the Jena 6.
In this month’s News Break, Jiarra Jackson is reporting back from a demonstration in Jena, LA protesting the unjust treatment of the Jena 6. She describes the surroundings and the sentiments of the protestors in an unscripted report.
Jiarra: I think the thing that really struck me the most is that it’s not just African Americans that are out here. There are Asians, there are Vietnamese, there are, you know, Caucasians. There are so many people from so many different races and ethnic backgrounds, that it’s not just a black fight as many would say. It’s so many people and I think it will have an effect.
Interestingly, for an issue that is so racially charged, the point that stands out to Jiarra is the fact that the protest has attracted people of all different backgrounds. This observation gives her hope for a positive result in the end.
Click here to find the full script and audio for this story.
Teach Youth Radio
For this month's feature, you will be able to view these strategies and resources:
1. How teachers can align this Youth Radio story to National Standards in the classroom.
2. Suggestions for lesson plans that link the story's content to your classroom's themes and subject areas.
3. Suggestions for lesson plans that explore media literacy, using the story to re-read mainstream media.
4. Bios of the Youth Radio reporters who produced the story.
5. A list of resources and further research related to the story's themes.
6. Links to Youth Radio’s media production techniques as guides and inspiration for your students’ creative media-making projects.
1. NATIONAL STANDARDS: Standards Alignment
Subject: LANGUAGE ARTS
NL-ENG.K-12.1 READING FOR PERSPECTIVE
NL-ENG.K-12.2 UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
NL-ENG.K-12.3 EVALUATION STRATEGIES
NL-ENG.K-12.6 APPLYING KNOWLEDGE
NL-ENG.K-12.9 MULTICULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
Subject: CIVICS
NSS-C.9-12.4 OTHER NATIONS AND WORLD AFFAIRS
Subject: HISTORY
NSS-USH.5-12.4 ERA 4: EXPANSION AND REFORM (1801-1861)
NSS-USH.9-12.10 ERA 10: CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES (1968 TO THE PRESENT)
Subject: HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.1 HEALTH PROMOTION AND DISEASE PREVENTION
NPH-H.9-12.2 HEALTH INFORMATION, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
NPH-H.9-12.3 REDUCING HEALTH RISKS
NPH-H.9-12.4 INFLUENCES ON HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.7 HEALTH ADVOCACY
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2. NEWS YOU CAN USE: Story content in your classroom, Suggestions for lesson plans
Language Arts:
Acting out:
To put Jiarra’s account of the Jena 6 demonstration in perspective, students can form groups and act out what Jiarra describes. Students can be assigned to play different roles, such as specific protestors, state troopers, and featured speakers. Have students draw on the ways that Jiarra uses words to paint a picture of the event she describes. After having students enact how the demonstration actually played out, have them go deeper. You might invite them to say out loud what key characters might be silently thinking. You might have them introduce individuals who were central to the Jena 6 story but not present at the protest—school administrators, teachers, students, parents, etc. You might have your students imagine and enact ways that one participant’s actions could have radically changed the way the protest played out.
Personal stories: Jiarra offers specific descriptions of particular people in this report to convey the sentiments of the protestors. She talks about meeting a three-year-old boy who attended the protest with his parents, seeing a woman who was suffering from heat exhaustion, people watching the events from the treetops, and people taking pictures with local Jena residents. How do these descriptions contribute to the effectiveness of her report? What other perspectives would you like to hear?
Speaking vs. Writing:
Jiarra’s news report is an example of a piece that was spoken, without a script, and only later transcribed by Teach Youth Radio. What are some other examples of both improvisational and scripted spoken texts? How are these texts different from texts that are meant primarily for reading, and not listening? What, if anything, from the spoken version would you change for a written version?
History and Civics:
Protesting history: Students can imagine that they are journalists covering U.S. protests across various historical eras. Have students research some especially noteworthy public demonstrations in U.S. history matched to the time period you are covering in class. Have them create a character for themselves: What kind of journalist? For what publication? Reaching what audience? Negotiating what personal and professional tensions raised by their news assignments? Then have them create a report like Jiarra’s. How do they draw on “eye witnesses,” multiple perspectives, and telling details to characterize the sentiment of the event and the goals of the action?
Our country: Jiarra concludes her report with her own opinions on justice: “I think that any person who does something wrong needs to be punished. However, the severity of the punishment also needs to fit the crime.” Have groups of students create their own countries. What are the laws of their countries? What kinds of symbols represent their country on a flag? What does their national anthem sound like? What do citizens of their country look like? By creating countries and constitutions, how do they show their visions of justice? If something like the Jena 6 story took place in their country, what would happen next?
Health:
Risky Business: Jiarra says she “was very, very afraid” for her safety at the protest, concerned that at any point the crowd could get “rowdy.” However, she says, “I knew that this was a monumental experience, and also a historical experience that I needed to experience for myself and not be told by others.” Jiarra wasn’t the only one on the scene thinking about her personal health and safety: “People are pretty much falling down, having heatstroke.” She describes a woman who seemed to grow dehydrated and fall down, only to get some water and then rejoin the protest. Have students reflect on discuss what causes, if any, they’d be willing to suffer for? To die for?
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3. CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY: Putting This Story in Context
In protest: Talk to students about their experiences with civil disobedience. Have you or your students ever participated in a protest? What was the purpose of the protest? What was the result of the demonstration? Were the demands met? What is your position on whether and how teachers should talk about their own personal politics with students? What do your students think?
In the news: Students can do research on the coverage of the Jena 6 protests. How does Jiarra’s piece compare to other reporters who have covered this topic, from various mainstream and alternative news outlets? What is different about her report?
Whose fight?: Jiarra says, “it’s not just a black fight.” Although much of the Jena 6 coverage has focused on how this issue has affected the lives of black youth, to what extent do your students believe that a multi-cultural dialogue is crucial to having an effect on the ultimate decisions in this and other cases? Why or why not?
Microphone check: Audiences at the Jena protest complained about microphones going in and out during the speeches—a technical problem that can also be “read” as a metaphor. How can the mainstream media control what the public hears? What can members of the public do to find and distribute the information they want and need? (This is a good place to plug Youth Radio as a distribution resource for your students’ stories!).
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4. MEET THE REPORTERS
Jiarra Jackson
Jiarra Jackson is a New Orleans native and college student at the University of New Orleans. She hosted Youth Radio’s hour-long Generation Katrina special, which aired on Public Radio International stations nation-wide.
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5. RESOURCES AND RESEARCH
• The Jena Times
• Thousands Protest Arrests of 6 Blacks in Jena, La. (The New York Times)
• Vietnam War: College Protests (eMints National Center)
• Civil Rights Timeline (Infoplease)
• March 18-20: The World Says End the War! (United For Peace & Justice)
• Drop all the charges! (A.N.S.W.E.R.)
• REVEALING RACIST ROOTS - Jena 6 Resource Guide for Educators (Teachers $ Social Justice)
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6. MEDIA PRODUCTION FOR LEARNING: Making Audio Narratives
Click here to link to Youth Radio's guidelines for conducting interviews, writing commentaries, and producing features.
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