Examples Of Racial Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Words: 546
Pages: 3

Courts are unfair. Juries do not work. Justice should be served. In Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem Finch strongly believed theses statements after the unjust death of African American, Tom Robison. Today, in the twenty-fist century racism still exists, and deaths of African Americans such as Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin released protests and riots all across the nation. Either on the streets or in the courts, racial decimation and racial injustice still occur. Harper Lee clearly wove a crimson ribbon through her book and told millions of readers the story of a Southern town plagued with racism, racial profiling, and racial discrimination.

Racism was ubiquitous in Maycomb County, and people treated Negroes like the dirt beneath their feet. Niggers had no value. Maycomb’s streets were littered with misanthropic feelings for African Americans, but one man named Atticus Finch stood out among the crowd. This white lawyer, Atticus, represented the black alleged rapist, Tom Robison, and his willingness to represent a black man brought dissention to the solitary Southern town. Atticus believed racism infected Maycomb with a disease and felt the ramifications of this disease. One of Scout’s schoolmates, Cecil Jacobs, proudly stated, “…My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an’ that nigger oughta hang from the
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They profiled and discriminated every Negro in sight thinking that, “…All Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women” (273). The racists were wrong. During cross-ex sullen Mr. Gilmer painted Tom Robison as a cold hearted, lying, nigger. Contradictory, Atticus Finch painted a different picture; Tom was a genuine, compassionate, and caring swarthy man. Scout Finch, like her father, believed only one kind of folks exists—folks. Just because a man had a different skin color did not mean he had no