“We just wanted to show our support for our brothers in Jena and the injustices that happened there,” he said.

Six black teenagers, known as the Jena Six, were jailed in December. Five students were initially charged with attempted second-degree murder, after the beating of a white classmate. Charges have been reduced for four of them. The sixth student’s case was sealed because he was charged as a juvenile, The Associated Press reported.

The fight occurred after a black student asked about a tree known at the school as a hangout for whites only. The next day, three nooses hung from the tree.

John Beason, chairman of MSU’s Brothers and Sisters of the Struggle and political affairs director of Black Student Alliance, said Jena Six has called attention to national racism.

“A lot of people pretend like we don’t have these issues,” Beason said. “Racism and prejudice is awash in every American infrastructure. African Americans are victimized in every system.”

On Thursday, about five hours before a bus from Detroit was leaving for Jena, University of Michigan student Liana Mulholland decided she was going to the national protest.

“This is kind of comparable to marches for immigrant rights that happened last spring,” said Mulholland, co-chairwoman of the U-M chapter of By Any Means Necessary. “Things like this need to continue in order to build the dream of equality.”

The crowd at the protest stretched farther than she could see, Mulholland said. Even though she could barely hear the speakers, she said she felt a sense of solidarity with everyone there.

“To make a real impact it has to continue past today,” she said. “If we treat it like an isolated event, then it won’t have meant anything.”

In an effort to inform MSU students about Jena Six, MRULE is hosting an informative meeting at 7 p.m. today in Multipurpose Room C of Brody Hall, Yavana said.