Examining racism is one of the reasons the book was written and is one of the primary themes in the book. In To Kill a Mockingbird the racism is directed towards black people. In Maycomb, Alabama, where the book is set, most of the people are very racist, using terms such as "nigger" (Lee, p 83). At that time in history, the majority of white people believed that they were far superior to black people. That ideology was so ingrained, that it was referred to as "Maycomb 's usual …show more content…
In Mockingbird there was a robbery and the woman who was robbed told the officer it was Syrians (Lee, p 252). Today, many people in the west believe that all Muslims are terrorists and, as a result, we are denying thousands of refugees safe asylum. Desmond Tutu said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor," (www.brainyquotes.com/quotes/quotes/d/desmondtut106145.html; January 17, 2016). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson is unfairly tried and, as a result of racism, wrongly convicted. The justice system in the United States is still biased against black people. According to the Center for American Progress, 60% of all incarcerated inmates are black and a black person will receive a harsher sentence than his white peer who is tried for the same crime (www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-colour-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/; January 17, 2016). We have obviously not improved the stigma or racist ideologies against black people when over half of inmates in the United States are black. Although we are pressing them in different ways we are still oppressing both black people and Syrians. By trying blacks and whites unequally we oppress the rights of black people and by refusing to help the Syrian refugees