Innocence is a fragile thing, easily shattered and replace with the knowledge of how deeply rooted our culture is in violence and that there is nothing you can do about it. Very recently, a large number of people all over the United States had such an experience when an African-American unarmed teen by the name of Michael Brown was shot nine times by a Caucasian police officer, sending waves of rage across the country. Innocence can be replace by many things, one of which is perfectly demonstrated by Jem, this being knowledge. The knowledge that, say, all of your neighbors are secretly racist and will, without hesitation, convict an innocent black man for a crime he didn’t commit based on his skin color. As Judge Taylor is polling the jury
