Charlotte, N.C. ? To the Rev. Dwayne Walker, pastor of Charlotte’s Little Rock AME Zion Church, the case of the Jena 6 sounded like a story buried deep in the past.

A year ago, black students at Jena High School in north-central Louisiana say they asked for permission to sit under a shady oak where white students traditionally congregated at lunch.

They were told they could sit anywhere. So a few black students tried to sit under the tree with whites.

The next morning, three hangman’s nooses dangled from the tree, inflaming racial tensions in the rural town of 3,000.

Now, six black students – dubbed the Jena 6 – face years in prison on charges of beating up a white student.

One, Mychal Bell, was convicted in July by an all-white jury of aggravated second-degree battery. He was scheduled to be sentenced next week, but on Friday a Louisiana appeals court overturned the conviction. It said Bell shouldn’t have been tried as an adult, and sent the case to juvenile court.

A rally had been scheduled to protest Bell’s sentencing. A march is still on for Thursday – and Walker will converge with thousands from the Carolinas and around the country on Jena to show support for the six teenagers and bring attention to what they call “unequal justice.”

“It is so incredible that in 2007, this kind of blatant racism still exists,” Walker said. “If it happens in Jena, Louisiana, it can very well happen in Charlotte. We still need to go to Jena and put a spotlight on what is happening in that town and, really, around the country.”

The case has drawn national attention and outrage from civil rights leaders, clergy, politicians and radio personalities.

Details of what happened is disputed in Jena. According to published news reports, here’s how the incident unfolded:

After the nooses were found Sept. 1, 2006, Jena High’s principal tried to expel three white students who admitted hanging them. He was overruled by the superintendent and school board, which called the incident a prank. The students were suspended for two days.

A tumultuous year followed. Arsonists burned the school’s academic wing. Fights broke out. One of the Jena 6, Robert Bailey, was punched and beaten with beer bottles when he tried to enter a mostly white party. A white student was later charged with simple battery and given probation.

At school, a white student allegedly taunted Bailey. The Jena 6 are accused of ganging up on the white student and kicking and stomping on him in a schoolyard fight.

They were initially charged with aggravated second-degree battery. But the district attorney upgraded the charges to attempted second-degree murder. Most charges have since been reduced back to aggravated second-degree battery.

Bell is the only one to be tried and has spent months in prison. Like his co-defendants – Robert Bailey, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Theodore Shaw and Jesse Beard – Bell had no prior criminal record.

Before Friday’s appeals court ruling, organizers of next week’s rally estimated that up to 40,000 demonstrators would converge on Jena.

Some whites there say the media hasn’t correctly reported the incident.

“It’s been blown out of proportion,” one resident told the Charlotte Observer on Friday. She asked not to be named. “Our town has never had anything like this. I’ve never experienced any racial tension.”

Yet for months, the cause of the Jena 6 has been fueled by Internet blogs, and national black radio show hosts such as Michael Baisden and Steve Harvey.

Hundreds of buses from around the country were set to go. Walker believes they still will.

“We feel that Jena needs to feel the impact of what they’ve done and are doing,” he said. “The country needs to know that these acts won’t go unnoticed any longer.”