Students stand for Jena 6
Milford Mill Academy teacher Pamela Nevel sounded like a proud mother in her email as she wrote about the hundreds of students who showed up yesterday morning to protest in support of the "Jena 6," as thousands of others did across Maryland and the rest of the nation.
"It was super and moving," she wrote.
Several of her students also wrote in yesterday with their own accounts of how the protest had affected them. Read comments they sent to us here at Classroom Connections. Among the comments was this gem from 10th-grader Janakhte' Page:
"I, along with Briana Haden, held up a sign that read "Honk if you support the Jena 6". We held that sign up with pride and screamed to the top of our lungs. ... Most people just ignore racism or pretend that it doesn't exist because they do not want to face the truth and the pain of racism. No one pays attention until somebody gets hurt or gets put in jail and that is exactly what happened. Racism is alive and I feel that the protest let people know that it still is. I was proud to be a part of a positive protest that reflects our community's consideration for others."
Categories: Baltimore County, School Diversity/Segregation, School Safety (Or Lack Thereof)
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Comments
Hey Gina,
Good post! Keep up the good work! See you when I come back to Baltimore!!!
Posted by: John-John Williams IV | September 21, 2007 4:39 PM
I would be interested if the protest took place during school hours or before. I would hope a teacher would not take his or her students out of class to participate in a protest march.
I also find the comment: "No one pays attention until someone gets hurt" to be ironic considering the Jena 6 story began with the Jena 6 beating up another student.
Posted by: Rob | September 22, 2007 11:32 AM
Just to let everyone know, this protest took place before school hours. The students were in front of the school from 6:30 - 7:30 am. They were in class by 7:45, which is the time that their first period class starts. I'm a teacher at Milford Mill Academy and I'm extremely proud of the students. They organized this protest because they wanted to make sure people knew that they cared as well. The did a wonderful job.
Posted by: Jacqui Winston | September 25, 2007 11:37 AM