Everlasting Racism that Passes from One Generation to the Next

Racism is defined as poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race or the belief that some races of people are superior to others. This belief has been instilled in people for centuries. These beliefs have slightly deteriorated due to the civil rights movement. However, racist beliefs have managed to be passed down from generation to generation which is why racism is still quite prevalent today.

Harper Lee thoroughly explains how immoral society was in the 1930’s through “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Jem and Scout’s dad, Atticus, rose to the challenge of defending a black man, named Tom Robinson, that was accused of raping a white woman (Lee). Atticus provided sufficient evidence that Tom had not raped her. In fact, she was the one chasing after him. Atticus proposed that her dad beat her when he found out that she liked Tom. The all white jury voted Tom guilty as charged which was no surprise to Atticus. Tom was sentenced to life in prison for a crime he obviously had no such involvement in. People looked down on Atticus for defending a black man and even referred to him as a “nigger-lover”. His kids even received some flack from classmates because he defended Tom.

Even though Atticus was not racist, his children had been surrounded by enough racist ideas within the town that they had fallen in with the crowd. “Once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all black,” said Jem to scout outside the courthouse. The older generations of the town, parents and grandparents, instilled this sense of superiority of the white race in the children. This is a prime example of how racist beliefs survived from generation to generation. The children learn by example. Since they were surrounded by racism, they had no ch...

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...ted States citizen, and even voted an african american into the white house. However, racism itself has not been eradicated and most likely never will. It’s much more subtle than it has been in previous generations, but it is still more than evident in today’s generation. Many people have seemed to turn a blind eye to the problem of racism or declare it as resolved all together. Americans cannot avoid these racial tensions forever. The number of minorities will continue to increase and true equality must be a common goal for all americans to share.

Works Cited

Bernstein, Aaron. "Racism in the Workplace." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 29 July

2001. Web. 01 May 2014.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. Print.

Library, CNN. "Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 22 Feb.

2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.