Koopman 1

Carsten Koopman

Mrs. Koning

ENG2D

January 13, 2017

It's All Black and White

The beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people. Unknown

Racism has been around for thousands of years, and is still around today. Its

influence has infiltrated even the deepest parts of our society and cultures.

In this essay, I argue that Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson in To Kill

a Mockingbird to demonstrate how racism even corrupts the judicial system.

Firstly, the time period that the novel is set in shows how racism

influenced the courts. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is written during the

1930s. Slavery was officially abolished under the 13th amendment in 1865,

but discrimination against the black population was still a social norm, and

they were seen as inferior to the white people (Abolition).We can see how

racism poisons jury members minds when Reverend Sykes says to Jem,

Now don't be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain't ever seen any jury decide in

favour of a coloured man over a white man(Lee 238). This quote shows

that on more than one occasion jury members have let racial prejudices

pollute their judgements and, in sight the bigger picture, damage the

integrity and morals that should be demonstrated in a court and a case.Now

this novel was set almost ninety years ago but as the times change so do

ideas.
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Furthermore, it is the 21st century and we still see racism just in many

different forms. Racism is like a virus, a disease that modifies itself under its

circumstances. Anytime we try to rid society of this issue it comes again in a

different form. We see a rise in police hostility towards the black population,

and random police checks that appear to target the black communities.

Also, in many movies and TV shows there seems to be a connection that

black men are associated with gangs and the drug trade. Everyone has their

own biases. Nothing will change that fact of life. We can see this in the novel

when Atticus says to Jem,

The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a

courtroom, be he any colour of the rainbow, but people have a way of

carrying their resentments in to the jury box (Lee 252).

This quote also shows the fact how a courtroom could be just as easily

affected by someones wrongful judgements. It also shows how racism and

other prejudices even affects a place that should be full of fairness and

equality. Society has a way of getting into our heads and planting seeds of

biased judgements towards people or circumstances. The novel shows us

these horrendous judgments as well.

Lastly, by the novel itself we can see the infiltration of racism in the

courts. In the case of Tom Robinson, he is accused of raping and injuring

Mayella Ewell. This section of the book is written so you can see both sides of

the story, and to the reader it seems that Tom Robinson is innocent and Bob

Ewell, Mayellas father, is actually guilty of harming and possibly raping his
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own daughter. All the evidence in this case point to it. Tom Robinson denies

the charges against him and stated the Mayella was responsible for the

events that occurred. When he was asked by Mr. Gilmer why he ran away

from the scene he responded with,

No suh, Is scared Id be in court just like I am now.

Scared of arrest, scared youd have to face up to what you did?

No suh, scared Id hafta face up to what I didnt do (Lee 225).

This quote shows that Tom Robinson knew that if he went to court he would

be convicted regardless of the evidence presented that should prove him

innocent. To make it worse, the case was one mans word against anothers.

Since Tom is black man and Mayella is a white girl, Tom would be convicted,

which proves to be true. Atticus knew this too when he said,

Theres something in our world that makes men lose their heads they

couldnt be fair if they tried. In our courts, when its a white mans

word against a black mans, the white man always wins. Theyre ugly

but those are the facts of life (Lee 251).

This quote alone shows how racism and peoples biases penetrate deep into

places of justice. In the courtroom, there was very little respect for Tom. Mr.

Gilmer referred to him as boy on many occasions, while Atticus used mister

or miss when questioning a witness. By the end of the case all justice,

fairness, equality, and respect are lost. That court was no longer a court but

just a big room. It loses all the aspects that classifies it as a court. Everything

that it should have stood for where lost. The jurys own biases and racial
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prejudices clouded their judgements and their duty as keepers of justice. The

book ends with no hope for change in the judicial system. No one in the end

changes their views on racism.

Taking everything into consideration, racism will be around until the

end of time, and if this is the case the world will never know peace. Every

aspect of our livesis affected by our own and other peoples biases and

assumptions about others. The song Where is the Love put it like this

But if you only have love for your own race,

Then you only leave space to discriminate,

And to discriminate only generates hate (The Black Eyed Peas).

The songs theme lies within its title. Where is the Love? People showing

these prejudices is not showing the love for each other and for all people.
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Work Cited

Abolition of slavery in the Americas. Loverpoolmuseums.org.uk.

International Slavery

Museum, Web. January 6, 2017.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006.

Print.

Resistance and Freedom. Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk. International Slavery

Museum, Web.

January 6, 2017.

The Black Eyed Peas. Where is the Love?, Elephunk. Interscope Records,

2004. CD.
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