Three nooses in Jena, La. became a local issue at the NAACP meeting last night.

The nooses were hanged from a tree in the small town in September 2006, in response to a group of black high school students who wanted to sit beneath a traditionally “whites only” tree.

Fighting and institutional discrimination led to an arrest in December of six black students now known as the Jena Six, one of whom now faces up to 22 years in prison.

The discussion was a prelude for a rally on Sept. 19 in the MLK Commons; it was also a chance to demonstrate this year’s motto, “Let’s make it happen,” by announcing the creation of an activist committee.

“We started the committee because we were tired of talking about issues and not acting on them,” said Vennessa Jones, lead organizer of the committee. She said the committee will be a “community effort” and that any and all issues will be considered as they come forth.

Most of the students at the NAACP meeting last night heard about the Jena Six incident directly from the NAACP or from the numerous Facebook groups that have popped up recently.

They were given the question by president John Hardy of whether or not the situation would be different if six white students had been arrested.

“It’s almost like saying, what if a white person went through slavery,” said senior communications major Phillip Moore.

Moore said the whole situation erupted from the hanging of nooses, something he said would not have happened in a different ethnic circumstance.

Hardy said the reason for asking the question was to ask whether this is a question of race, or the law.

“It’s really sad,” said Toynika Williamson, vice president of programming. “These are young men. Their whole life is gone.”

Williamson said that retaliation on either side is not the answer, but the students should not be let off the hook if they are guilty of violence.

“When they retaliated against the white boys, that wasn’t right either,” she said.

Another topic that came up was the July 26 hate crime at the Amber Manor Apartments, where three white adults were accused of assaulting a black 16-year-old boy.

“The family didn’t want to push it any farther,” said Hardy. “If they say no, we’re not going to do it.”

Hardy said that the discussion was meant to focus on the Jena Six as a national example of the same theme.

College Democrats president Kevin Chambliss voiced a similar opinion.

“This is not just an issue down in the Dirty South where no one ever goes,” he said. “We need to come together to try and fix it.”