The Jena 6

Let me be perhaps the first blogger to ever utter these words: I don't get it.

If you are unfamiliar with the Jena 6, head over to Instapundit to read a summary.

Back? Good. Okay, here's my issue. Surely people aren't protesting because these six are being charged and tried for beating the hell out of a kid, right? They put a pretty good smack down on the kid, and they deserve to be charged and tried. There is no justification for what they did, period. So is the protest over the nooses in the tree and the failure to expel the kids responsible for it? If so, why has it been so long in happening? So if that isn't it, then is the logic behind this that the Jena 6 don't deserve to be charged for beating the hell out of a kid because some other kids got off light for the repugnant act of putting nooses in the "white tree"? That's the only reason I can think of for people like David Bowie contributing money to the Jena 6 defense fund. And if that's the reason, I can't get on board with this.

Update
Welcome, Instapundit readers. If you feel like casting some more light on this issue, feel free to join the conversation ongoing in the comments.