"Jena Is All Over This Country": Questioning Federal Response to the Jailing of the Jena Six

And now we turn to the ongoing fight for justice in Jena, Louisiana. The House Judiciary Committee held a heated hearing Tuesday on the case of the Jena Six. Democratic lawmakers and community activists lambasted federal officials for not intervening despite the hanging of nooses on the schoolyard tree and District Attorney Reed Walters" initial charges of second-degree attempted murder against the six African-American teenagers. Reed Walters was invited to the hearing but did not attend.

Many spoke of a worsening climate of overt racism citing the recent spate of noose-hanging incidents well beyond Jena. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said that "Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is not unique to any one place, but is found in cities and towns north and south throughout our nation."

This is an excerpt of civil rights activist Revered Al Sharpton"s testimony Tuesday.

• Rev. Al Sharpton

Donald Washington is the US Attorney for Louisiana"s Western district. He visited Jena last year and concluded that the hanging of the nooses was not a hate crime. I want to play an excerpt of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, questioning Washington.

• Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)

US Attorney for Western Louisiana Donald Washington came under fire Tuesday for not deeming the noose hanging in Jena hate crime. Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota sharply questioned Washington at Tuesday's hearing. During the questioning Ellison also turns to Reverend Brian Moran from the Antioch Baptist Church in Jena, Louisiana.

• Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)

Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree also testified about race relations in Jena and beyond on Tuesday's hearing. This is an excerpt of what he said.

• Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School Professor

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