Witnesses testified about the “Jena Six” case in which six black teenagers were charged with the beating of a white student soon after nooses were hung from a tree on a high school campus. They criticized federal authorities for staying out of the local prosecutor’s case against the six, particularly that of Mychal Bell, who was in jail after a judge decided he violated the terms of his probation for a previous conviction. They also talked about the state of race relations and civil rights issues.