By Hazel Trice Edney | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - The Rev. Al Sharpton, preparing to lead a march in Jena, La., on behalf of the Jena Six Sept. 20, says the case of the six Black high school students hits home across the nation and the issues are no longer contained to the small Louisiana town.

"It gives a real focus on the fact that all over this country, young Blacks, particularly young Black males are being overcharged by a criminal justice system and prosecutors who have gone wild. It is also important because of the double standards of justice being used against young Blacks," says Sharpton.

The march is set to start at 9 a.m. at the Court House in Jena. Sharpton will be accompanied by Martin Luther King III, author and radio talk show host Michael Baisden, as well as other national leaders.

The march was to coincide with the sentencing of Mychal Bell, who could face up to 15 years on an aggravated second-degree battery conviction.

The ruckus started a year ago after three White Jena High School students hung nooses in a tree at the school, known as the "White Tree." The three students were suspended for the nooses, which were in response to a Black student having sat under the tree one day earlier.

In a December fight at the school, directly related to noose controversy, six Black male students, now called the Jena Six were arrested for beating up a White student, whose wounds were so minor that he attended a school function later that day.

Five initially were charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder. Following the national protests and publicity surrounding the story, charges against three of the students were reduced from attempted second-degree murder to aggravated second-degree battery. A sixth student is being charged in juvenile court.

Sharpton says a double standard exists because the prosecutor failed to file criminal charges against the students who hanged the nooses, viewed as a life-threatening gesture, or against a young White man said to have pulled a shotgun on three Black students at a local store amidst the controversy. Instead, three Black teens were arrested and accused of aggravated battery and theft after they took the gun from him.

Sharpton says he plans to request a state investigation in the case and to file misconduct charges against District Attorney Reed Walters, the prosecutor in the cases.

He says, "If they can put the prosecutor at Duke in jail, certainly they can deal with this prosecutor that Whites committed against the Blacks in Jena and then overcharged these young Black students."

Hazel Trice Edney is the NNPA editor-in-chief.