Racism has plagued America since it was made independent. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Atticus finch must defend Tom Robinson from a false accusation of rape from Mayella Ewell, but the town finds him guilty because he is black. America will never reach true racial and social equality, because there will always be prejudice, there has been racial problems since America was made, and racism has so much power in our world. There will always be prejudice no matter where you go. After Scout finds out that Atticus was appointed to the trial someone says “Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it” (163). This shows that no matter what people will always have a prejudice against something. Prejudices can be passed down, like when Francis is repeating what his grandma said “[But] now he's turned out a nigger-lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin” (83). Prejudices can be passed down very easily from generation to generation because children can take advice from older family members, and they could have a strong bias. Everyone has biases or prejudices, and that ensures that equality cannot be achieved. …show more content…
Mr. Raymond is “not much of a drinker, but…they could never, never understand” that he acts like a drunk so that he can live how he wants (200-201). People will judge others badly based on their opinions or biases. “Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation” these laws separated whites and colored people. The Jim crow laws made it legal to separate whites from other races, in 1896 the supreme court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional, this helped to uphold 58 more years of legal
Prejudice is where you judge someone without knowing who the person is, or what they are like. In Maycomb some people were prejudiced especially towards black people who were called niggas, negroes. Maycomb was prejudiced against Boo Radley because he was different. He never went outside during the day but people knew he went out at night. Bob Ewell was prejudiced against Atticus because he was defending a negro also because Atticus had power and Bob Ewell didn’t. Mrs Dubois was prejudiced towards children. She was very nasty to children especially to Jem. The only people we know who were not prejudiced were Boo Radley, Atticus Finch and maybe Calpurnia. The Ewell family were particularly prejudiced and Bob Ewell was very bad. For example Bob
Sometimes, people discriminate one thing, but strongly oppose the discrimination of another thing. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this issue is very much expressed throughout the story. This thought-provoking story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during a time when there’s a rape trial against a falsely accused African American named Tom Robinson. There is also a discrimination, of sorts, towards a man named Boo Radley, by three young children named Jeremy “Jem” Finch, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and Charles “Dill” Baker Harris. Both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are similar in their own ways through their inherent goodness.
In To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee people were judged by unfair standards that resulted in oppression. Scout and Jem are the children of a white lawyer who has to defend a black man accused of raping a white female. In the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama equal rights were not factors. Which says that the problems of human inequality and the divisions within society were unfair and unjust, like Boo Radley being treated unequally by others. People were judged regarding their race, economic status, or social standing. The race of Tom Robinson led to think he was guilty of a crime he didn't commit. Racism also led to Aunt Alexandra's harsh beliefs against Calpurnia.
America has always been a country with different cultures, races, and people. Only, not everyone has been accepting of different kinds of people. A persons thoughts on another person can differ depending on a person's race, gender, or age. In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, racial equality is nonexistent. The African Americans were treated like they weren’t people, and were totally isolated from the Maycomb, Alabama society. America will never achieve true racial and social equality because people are ignorant, have a history of being prejudiced, and are unjust.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
In the world today, racism and discrimination is one of the major issues being faced with. Racism has existed throughout the world for centuries and has been the primary reasons for wars, conflicts, and other human calamities all over the planet. It has been a part of America since the European colonization of North America beginning in the 17th century. Many people are not aware of how much racism still exist in our schools, workforces, and anywhere else that social lives are occurring. It started from slavery in America to caste partiality in India, down to the Holocaust in Europe during World War II.
Prejudice is one of the main themes of the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which is shown through the towns people, the jury, and Atticus 's children. The towns people of Maycomb are very quick to judge people like Dolphus Raymond. He carries around a drink in a paper bag and have a straw sticking out of it. “Folks can say that 's why Dolphus Raymond 's in the clutches of whiskey.... that 's why he lives the way he does.”(268) He acts like he 's drunk so everyone thinks that it 's alcohol and they blame his drink for going against social code. The jury was also prejudice, just like the towns people because they voted a innocent, black man, guilty just because he was black. “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, ... not one of them
The most prominent demonstration of racism in America had to be the slave codes that were in place in all states where slavery was practiced. In “From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans,” John Hope Franklin went into detail on slave codes on pages 137-138, “…these laws varied from state to state, but most of them expressed the same viewpoint: that slaves are not people but property and that laws should…protect whites.” One law stated that those enslaved could not bear arms or strike a white person, even in self-defense, but when a white person killed a slave it wasn’t even considered murder. Africans had no standing in court, they couldn’t testify or be a party to a lawsuit and their marriages were not legally binding. Raping an African American woman by her master wasn’t considered a crime either. The slave codes were designed to oppress, persecute, and humiliate blacks by the hands of the whites. With the slave codes and the eventual Jim Crow laws and any oppressive laws and segregation practiced in America, the idea of blacks being inferior was stamped into the minds of any person living in the country. African Americans were treated as subpar, they weren’t considered human beings and to this day the same belief is held unto, although not nearly as outright or not as blatant as in the past centuries. Slavery in itself is a large example of how racism is and may always be embedded into American society; blacks had to fight to even be considered citizens, be able to vote, and be given basic human rights. Though many would deny the existence of racism, the sad truth is that racism may be an ever-present concept in American society.
Racism is a major issue that has affected the United States since its discovery. Racism is the hatred by a person of one race pointed at a person of another race. The United States has grown up to improve as a whole but this process is a long way away from completion. Some citizens still believe that African-Americans are inferior to Caucasians and that they should be slaves. In the 1950s, whites and blacks were segregated to a point that they could not go to the same schools or even use the same bathrooms.
"Racism springs from the lie that certain human beings are less than fully human. It's a self-centered falsehood that corrupts our minds into believing we are right to treat others as we would not want to be treated" (Alveda King). Throughout American History the United States has dealt with racism; this has shaped and impacted us, especially with the Scottsboro trials. In the early 1930's nine black boys were accused tried for the rape of two white girls. At this time only white, Southern men could be on the jury for the trials. During the fourth trial blacks were given the right to jury duty, which hugely influenced the nation. With this in play, it helped plummet racism significantly and was a marvelous attainment for America.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” Ellie Wiesel. Readers may find the amount of injustice in Harper lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a little shocking. This could be why it’s such a popular book. People like the suspense of knowing someone’s right, but still being found guilty for something they did not do. There are many times throughout the book when people are powerless to prevent injustice but they still protest it. This shows that even when people unjustly punish there should always be someone to protest it. The theme of injustice is a common one in harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, whether it be through racism, misinformation, or Arrogance.
Discrimination played a big role in the 1930s and throughout the development of the novel, and still is not completely diminished in the 21st century. Sexism, classicism, and racism all typified the many relationships in To Kill A Mockingbird, from Aunt Alexandra wanting Scout to become a lady, to Tom Robinson's unfair court trial. Prejudices are formed because of the level of ignorance people have when they believe everything they hear from their peers without bothering to be fertilized with education, leading to a division within communities, physically and mentally.
Few people are the same as they are on the street in their homes. Few people can treat others equally; no matter what colour their skin is. Atticus Finch is one of those precious few. Racism in the town of Maycomb is nothing but disguised by the polite smiles and ladies missionary meetings; although it is the strongest belief that each person of the town holds apart from some such as Atticus. Racism is an issue of great importance, yet to the eye of a visitor waltzing through, it's just a slight whisk of air.
The novel TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee has numerous accounts of racism and prejudice throughout the entire piece. The novel is set in the 1930's, a time when racism was very prevalent. Although bigotry and segregation were pointed in majority towards blacks, other accounts towards whites were also heard of, though not as commonly. There are acts that are so discreet that you almost don't catch them, but along with those, there are blatant acts of bigotry that would never occur in our time. Lee addresses many of these feelings in her novel.
...mproved, especially as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, racial inequalities still remain; from income to IQ levels, to the number of the incarcerated and life expectancies. While Americans like to think of our country as the equal land of opportunity, clearly it is not. Racism continues to remain "our American Obsession" (Loewen 139).