2,000 Protest Expulsions

A standoff over the expulsion of six black students for fighting continued Sunday as the Rev. Jesse Jackson led about 2,000 people through the streets of this blue-collar town.

“Let it be clear,” Jackson told the crowd before the afternoon march, “we’ll be back again and again until our children are back in school. Too many children are being left behind--suspended, expelled, jailed.”

The six students were expelled for two school years after allegedly taking part in a brawl in the stands at a football game Sept. 17. A seventh withdrew from school during expulsion hearings. The students are black, but Jackson has said it is not a question of racism but of whether the students were treated fairly.

The school board has since voted to trim the expulsions to one year and let the students attend alternative education programs.