Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

When most people think of intense racism, they think of the horrible ways people of color were treated many years ago. Unfortunately, many people think racism is a thing of the past, when this is, in fact, false. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, racism is shown as common practice to many and a monstrosity to very few. Unfortunately, in the small town of Maycomb County, racism wins out as an African American man named Tom Robinson is falsely accused of raping a woman and is sentenced to death. This may now seem like an anomaly, but this is in fact something that happens in the present day. So because of due to how people of color were treated in Maycomb’s times, how they are treated today, and whether or not Harper Lee achieved …show more content…
Even in a poor neighborhood, there were some things that just weren’t acceptable to do with or to a black man or woman. In the novel, Atticus states, “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards” (207) The fact that this code exists shows how corrupt society was when it came to people of different skin color. There should never have been a “code,” spoken or unspoken, because that goes against the Constitution’s statement that all men are created equal. However, while the code is occasionally broken by characters such as Dolphus Raymond, there are some characters who many consider to be the scum of the Earth due to their treatment of black people, such as Bob Ewell. In the novel, Bob Ewell says to Tom Robinson, “—I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” (175) Even when racism was common practice, this man was still seen as despicable. His illiteracy and lack of understanding shows how much of an arrogant fool he is. Despite terms such as “nigger” being in most people’s vocabulary at the time, Bob Ewell uses it as if it was the first word he ever spoke. When he accuses Tom …show more content…
Fortunately, Segregation is buried in the past, and people of color now hold the same rights as any other man. However, black people are still insulted and belittled in recent to present day. In the article, Why I Joined the Klan, a Klan member states, “So the natural person to hate would be the black person. He’s beginnin’ to come up, he beginnin’ to learn to read and start votin’ and run for political office. Here are white people who are supposed to be superior to them, and we’re shut out” This interview took place in 1994, which is fairly recent. But because racism seemed like such an obsolete way of living to today’s standards, we allowed it to continue right under our noses. The KKK began in 1865 and still exists this very day, albeit in smaller numbers. Their ideals still ring out through a small number of society, but that number is enough to show that we haven’t improved all that much. While modern day racism isn’t as organized as it once was, there are many examples of people who are willing to unethical and unspeakable acts to people based on the color of their skin. In the article, Don’t Bury Black History’s Horrors, it tells the story of Emmett Till, a black young boy who was brutally murdered for flirting with a white woman. “A lively and prankish boy had become a bloated grotesquerie, an ear missing, an eye gouged out, a bullet hole in his head. You looked at that picture and you felt that here was the reason