The rally was planned for yesterday because one of the so-called Jena Six, Mychal Bell, was scheduled to be sentenced. The 17-year-old was convicted of conspiracy to commit second-degree battery in the December beating of Justin Barker, a white Jena High School classmate.
The beating was the result of an incident that occurred in August 2006, when a black student asked at a school assembly whether blacks could sit under a shade tree where white students commonly congregated.
He was told yes, but the next day, two nooses appeared on the tree. Three white students were suspended in the incident but not criminally charged. School officials called it an "adolescent prank."
Subsequent fights among students culminated in Mr. Barker's beating.
