A horde of marchers dressed in black flooded McKinley Avenue and chanted for social equality Thursday morning.
The marchers were protesting the attempted murder charges against six black high school students from Jena, La. The students were arrested on suspicion of attacking a white student after he taunted a black student.
Moses Jones, parliamentarian for the Ball State University Black Student Association, said the black clothing was part of a national protest on Thursday, which the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People organized.
"Once we heard about the nation-wide thing, the march happened just like that," he said.
The march began at 8 a.m. on LaFollette Field and traveled south on McKinley Avenue's sidewalk to the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, Jones said.
Ball State and Burris Laboratory School students joined with members of the Muncie community for the march to raise awareness about the trial and show support for the "Jena Six," Jones said.
During the march, protestors chanted phrases such as "Free the 'Jena Six'" and "Give them justice," Jones said.
BSA also had a table in the Atrium that gave students the chance to sign letters of petition for Kathleen Babineux Blanco, Louisiana's governor, and Reed Walters, the district attorney who filed the charges.
BSA President Ebony Strong said the association will mail the letters directly to Gov. Blanco and Walters' offices.
"We want to flood their offices," Strong said. "[The NAACP] wants us to send as much as possible."
Jones said he did not know if BSA will coordinate any more protests or petitions.
"If things don't happen [with the trial], then we're going to see what's in our future," he said.
Jones said BSA also coordinated its efforts through the Web site colorofchange.org.
According to the Web site, two black students sat under a tree that was historically reserved for white students at Jena High School in September 2006. A group of students hung nooses from the tree the following day, and they received three-day suspensions. After the incident white students began threatening black students at the school.
A white student was attacked after taunting a black student. Walters charged six students with second-degree attempted murder, according to the Web site.
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