Guilty or innocent, the verdict is up to the people. However, in a small, southern town where race is the main issue, guilty is the chosen verdict. In A Time to Kill, a novel written by John Grisham, Carl Lee Hailey, a black man who avenges his daughter’s attack and rape, faces death row for killing the two men that raped and beat his daughter. Some think he should be turned loose, while others think he should face the death penalty. Carl Lee’s actions do not portray him as a mad man, but a hero who avenged his daughter’s brutal attack. Carl Lee saved his county and maybe even the world from being hurt by the two men who hurt his daughter. Carl Lee is the protector of his family, especially when it comes to his baby girl Tonya, who is …show more content…
I hold no ill will toward the man. He did what I would have done. I got a little girl. Somebody rapes her, he’s a dead dog. I’ll blow him away just like Carl Lee did. He’s a hero. Turn him loose!!” (Deputy Dwayne Looney 536, 537). In the eyes of many, people agreed that Carl Lee is a hero and did not mean to cause harm to anyone else but to the punks who raped his little girl. From a parent’s point of view, a majority would act in a state of anger just like Carl Lee. If a person were to ask, “What would you do if your ten year old little girl was raped, beaten, and then left for dead, and left fighting for her life...how would you react?” The majority of parents would say, “I would kill them and put an end to them ever hurting another child or adult ever again just like Carl Lee.” Some see Carl Lee as an angry father who wanted to avenge his daughter’s attack while others see him as a black man who just wanted to kill two “innocent” white men. Parents understand Carl Lee’s aggression towards these men because well, they hurt his baby girl. If another parent had the same situation happen to their child, there is no doubt in my mind that they would act in a rage such as Carl Lee. While many say that his mind was unclear at the time, it is obvious Carl Lee knew what he was doing, however rage can take over a person’s state of mind causing the to act out such as Carl Lee. Once again, the killings of his daughter’s attackers were not to be an
Regardless of a personal dislike of reading about history, the book was captivating enough to get through. Ann Field Alexander, author of “Race Man: The Rise and Fall of the ‘Fighting Editor,’ John Mitchell Jr”, explains the hardships of a black male activist in the same time period as Lebsock’s novel. The main character Mitchell was president of a bank and ran for a political office, but was tried with fraud. After Mitchell was sentenced as guilty, the case was found faulty and was dismissed. Mitchell was still bankrupt and full of shame when he died. On the same subject of Lucy Pollard’s death, “Murder on Trial: 1620-2002”, written by Robert Asher, included the Pollard murder in chapter three of the novel. The aspect that any well written historically based novel brings to its readers is the emotion of being involved in the development and unraveling of events. As was said before, one who enjoys a steady but often slow novel that sets out a timeline of events with more than enough information to be satisfactory, then “A Murder in Virginia” is a riveting
The killings of unarmed black men have increased tremendously with different races to blame for. In January 2011, the life of Justin Patterson was snatched from him and his family by Mr. Neesmith, who only served in prison for one year. How do you think the community of Toombs County and Justin's family feel about him only serving one year in a detention center? Many people protested that the racial issues behind his travesty caused an upstir in the world, including the murder of Trayvon Martin that just recently happened in Florida during that time. However, Justin Patterson's murder did not make national news or even in the papers because most people thought he was just another dead man.
The purpose of this essay is to compare three very similar cases, the Scottsboro Trials, Brown v. Mississippi, and the fictional trial of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird; and to prove why the defendant of the third trial never had a chance. Each took place in the rural South in the 1920’s and 30’s and involved the unfair conviction of young black males by all-white juries pressured by the threat of mob violence. Each lacked the evidence sufficient for conviction, most especially for the death penalty. Last, heroes emerged from each trial and made small but solid steps towards equal justice for all.
The hypocrisy and double standard that allowed whites to bring harm to blacks without fear of any repercussions had existed for years before the murder Tyson wrote about occurred in May of 1970 (Tyson 2004, 1). Lynching of black men was common place in the south as Billie Holiday sang her song “Strange Fruit” and the eyes of justice looked the other way. On the other side of the coin, justice was brought swiftly to those blacks who stepped out of line and brought harm to the white race. Take for instance Nate Turner, the slave who led a rebellion against whites. Even the Teel’s brought their own form of justice to Henry Marrow because he “said something” to one of their white wives (1).
.guilty. . .guilty. . .guilty. . .” (211). By using only four guilty’s, Lee is able to demonstrate that the word of two white people has a greater effect than that of an African American even though the man who was put up for his life had not harmed, nor had he ever damaged anything he came into contact with.
Gaines’ novel is centered on a massive injustice, which is a young man who is falsely convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution. When Jefferson was brought into a trial for the murders of the three white men in the bar, most of the jury quickly assumed that he was guilty due to his skin color, because, at that time, the assumption of innocence does not
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper lee in 1960. The novel tells the story of Atticus Finch, a white lawyer, and Tom Robinson, a black servant, accused of raping a white female. Finch defends Robinson in court arguing lack of evidence as his main point. However, the judge and jury still believe the woman’s testimony and orders Robinson to be killed. The novel has been praised for its outstanding literature since its publication. However, it remains a banned book by the American Library Association for its use of racial slurs and profanity. Due to it being banned, many high schools have reconsidered the notion of teaching it to their students. Two prominent authors wrote articles pertaining to this piece of literature: Angela Shaw-Thornburg wrote an article on her re-reading of the novel and her opinions on it; while Malcom Gladwell wrote an article comparing Atticus Finch to a state governor liberalist, James Folsom, and the restraints of liberalism in the south. In addition, Rebecca Best contributes her thought on how the novel should be taught by introducing the idea of “the other.” Regardless of the modern day political arguments surrounding this piece of literature, this novel contains a large insight into the time period of the 1960s which is an influential topic that should be taught to young high school students.
One of the major events in Harper Lee’s award-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is Tom Robinson’s trial. It is based on the Scottsboro Case that took place in 1931 in Alabama, in which several black men were accused of raping two white women. Both the Scottsboro Boys and Tom Robinson are unfairly judged, however, because of prejudice against colored people. The racial discrimination makes whites’ testimony more believable even when it contradicts itself. The same happens in To Kill a Mockingbird. As we delve deeper into the case and get increasingly closer to the truth, it is quite suprising to see that Mayella Ewell is the true villain rather than a victim. She shall and must bear full responsibility for her actions because she makes the decision to tempt Tom Robinson, gives false testimony in court that directly leads to Tom’s death, and has been well aware of the consequences of her behaviors.
Nonetheless, there is an extended way to go until the world is free of inequalities. Injustice, the unfair treatment of individuals through actions and words based on stereotypes, which lack of knowledge and fear have fueled throughout the generations. However, the frequency of this injustice from the period of the 1930 's in Harper Lee 's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is made known through the unfair treatment of people based on racial discrimination. In the words of Jem, they don 't fit anywhere, therefore; colored people won 't have them since they are half white and the whites don’t want them because they are non-white (p161). For example, Trayvon Martin case the media were preconception toward Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman focusing more on sensationalism, rather than seeking the true facts in the case. Through displaying Trayvon’s pictures as an innocent boy and Zimmerman as angry in his mug shot. Attempt to build the story into an ethnically incident, meanwhile the media were neither entirely clear nor accurate, in addition; the investigative approach were not sufficient in either depth or extensiveness. Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder. The 1984 Crime Control Act was passed so the person does not commit any Federal, State, or local crime during release. Yet, that act seems to fail for some people like Zimmerman, who had eight run-ins with police after his
In Harper Lee’s fictional novel To Kill A Mockingbird, an African American field hand is falsely accused of raping a white women. Set in the 1930’s in the small town of Monroeville Alabama, Addicus Finch an even handed white attorney tries to shed a light on the injustice of this innocent black man’s conviction. Atticus feels that the justice system should be color blind, and he defends Tom as an innocent man, not a man of color.
Reginald Denny, a truck driver that was driving through the area of hate, stopped his truck and was pulled from his seat only to be beaten by a group of African Americans, was smiled at for his stupidity. Did Reginald Denny deserve to be beaten as much as King did? Many people that participated in the riot believed so, even though those were the same people that felt that that King was wrongly treated. Was this feeling of revenge produced by racism or fair 'take a hit, leave a hit' that would be forgotten once the pain was the same for everyone? Unfortunately, revenge never finds its own way to normal, humankind always wants to be 'one up' on the competition. The system of LA seemed to be falling apart at the thought of "Blacks" getting unfair treatment under the same conditions. The fact that "Blacks" were the ones tha...
“Violence never really deals with the basic evil of the situation. Violence may murder the murderer, but it doesn’t murder murder. Violence may murder the liar, but it doesn’t murder lie; it doesn’t establish truth. Violence may even murder the dishonest man, but it doesn’t murder dishonesty. Violence may go to the point of murdering the hater, but it doesn’t murder hate. It may increase hate. It is always a descending spiral leading nowhere. This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn’t solve any problems.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. (Directly quoted from page 2 of “Quotes About Civil Rights Movement”.) Fourteen year old Emmett Louis Till, was murdered while visiting with relatives in Money, Mississippi. The young boy allegedly flirted with a white sales clerk. Not only was the nation’s reaction, and the bias of the courtroom turbulent factors in the civil rights movement, but the brutality of his murder played a major role as well.
The day of March 3rd, Rodney King sped away from the police officers while intoxicated. The day of March 3rd, Rodney King was roughly taken from his vehicle.The day of March 3rd, Rodney King was brutally bashed and beaten close to sixty times by Los Angeles, California police officers (Boyd 1). The Rodney King Legacy Lives states, “The sickening tape, shot by a neighborhood resident, clearly shows the man on the ground offering no resistance as the cops pummeled him reportedly fifty-six times in the body and face,” (Carter 2). From the tape, the member’s of the jury had the opportunity to see, for themselves, the acts of brutality that took place. Some of the damages caused “skull fractures, nerve damage, a crushed cheekbone, a broken ankle and possible brain damage” (Brady 1).With this information, the members ...
As the American people’s standards and principles has evolved over time, it’s easy to forget the pain we’ve caused. However, this growth doesn’t excuse the racism and violence that thrived within our young country not even a century previous. This discrimination, based solely on an ideology that one’s race is superior to another, is what put many people of color in miserable places and situations we couldn’t even imagine today. It allowed many Caucasian individuals to inflict pain, through both physical and verbal attacks, and even take away African Americans ' God given rights. In an effort to expose upcoming generations to these mass amounts of prejudice and wrongdoing, Harper Lee 's classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, tells the story of
In John Grishams’ (1996) film “A Time to Kill” issues surrounding the racism in the Deep South take place and based on a true life experience of John Grisham. The novel, like the movie, opens with a very brutal rape scene. It’s the socio-politics that give this film an energetic and confrontational feel of southern racial politics. Racism was still very strong even some 20 years after the civil war (Ponick 2011). Hollywood and John Grisham wanted to make bold statement about racism and they accomplished this in the closing argument of the courtroom scene.