Jena Six

In assessing the similarities between the Jena 6 case and Antigone there is a reoccurring theme. That theme is the choice of right and wrong or taking the road less traveled by others. Antigone was presented with the dilemma of following the king’s orders not to give a proper burial to Polynices someone whom she had great respect for. In the same respect the students of Jena were told that a certain tree on the campus of their high school was for white students only. Would you have the courage to act upon an injustice knowing that the outcome would only make life harder for you or even end you life on this earth? Many would say yes, but one does not understand the severity of these situations until they are faced with one of equal or greater calamity.

The consequences for one who chose to disobey the king were death and a curse on the house of that person. In Jena the person who threatened life was not a king, president, or even a governor but a district attorney who stated, “I can take lives away with a stroke of my pen.” Just imagine the thoughts of a parent that can not defend the actions of their child when he or she is bold and stands for a cause that is right and pure. If you defend them and lose your life in the process or could hurt the chances of them regaining life by your actions how do you fight back? This question must haunt the minds of the citizens of Jens just as it did the people of Thebes. The people of Thebes had no lead way because the king’s word was law. The citizens of Jena reside in a country of democracy and many are astonished that such discrimination can take place when we moved thirty years past such things as Jim Crow laws, and many great black Americans have died fighting the fight of civil rights. Like Antigone, the actions of these brave students not only affected them but the lives of everyone around them.

Antigone sentenced to the dungeon and death by starvation for giving someone a proper burial. Mychal bell and five other students