Are Jena 6 protestors really interested in justice?

The Jena 6 protest today is a perfect example of sound and fury but little substance.

I've been hearing and reading about this case for months now, with increasingly strident tones. Thousands converged on the small Louisiana town today to march and protest for "justice."

But no one ever says what they mean by that.

Does justice mean these six black teen-agers -- who brutally sucker-punched a white teen as he left a gymnasium, rendering him unconscious, then followed up by kicking and striking him as he lay on the ground -- deserve to be set free?

Remember that four of the six were adults under Louisiana law at the time of the attack and one of the juveniles, Mychal Bell, the main defendant, had an extensive violent criminal record already. That's why he was tried as an adult, not a juvenile (and his conviction was overturned because of that technicality).

They knew exactly what they were doing, and what they wanted to accomplish. This wasn't a simple schoolyard fight that broke out -- a flash of anger between two teen-agers. This was a six-on-one gang attack.

Does justice mean reducing their charges? That's already happened. From attempted murder to aggravated battery, even though the six very easily could have killed the unconscious victim.

Does justice mean arresting the white teens who hung nooses over a tree on the high school campus? As despicable as that is -- and it was as low-class and hateful a move as one can imagine -- it is not a crime. Nor did the white teens put anyone's life at jeopardy through violence.

I saw a news clip featuring an interview with celebrity Tyler Perry, who was there today to lend support to the Jena 6. The interviewer asked him several times what he was seeking, and he kept saying he just wanted the boys to receive a "fair shake." When asked what would constitute a "fair shake," he couldn't really answer.

Exactly. I understand why Perry was caught off guard by the question -- these six aren't really the kind of "victims" that most reasonably thinking people can excuse. They did the crime ... now they want others to look the other way and let them off the hook for their "schoolyard tussle."

Some bloggers and activists are going so far as calling the Jena 6 "heroes."

Please.

Unfortunately, you don't have to look very far to find examples of racial disparity and unfair treatment toward blacks in the American legal system, which begs the question -- why this case?

Surely Tyler Perry and the thousands of others marching today would be seeking a different kind of "fair shake" if it were their son brutally attacked by a gang of six toughs outside school.

Is it that the protesters in Jena, La., today are more interested in riding the wave of publicity than they are in actual justice? You tell me.