The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Jena

In a scene reminiscent of the US civil rights movement of the 1950s, thousands marched through this small Louisiana town Thursday protesting what they say is widespread inequality and racism in the US criminal justice system. "It's amazing," civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton told CNN as he marched with the crowd. "You see the beginning of a movement that will deal with the criminal justice system in this country." Wearing black clothing as a sign of mourning, protestors bused in from across the country chanted "No Justice! No Peace!" and swarmed the grounds of the town's high school, many bending to touch the stump of a tree cut down after it sparked months of racial tensions. Five decades after US schools were officially desegregated, that tree was known as the "white tree" because only white students at Jena High School sat in its shade.