Racism is not bad, it’s 100% natural… or at least in the 1930s it was. Social acceptance is a big
part of our society, it dictates what’s right and wrong and justice movements/People do not
come along very often to help guide society and bring injustices to light. In the book “To Kill A
Mockingbird” by Harper Lee racism is one of the biggest themes. The story takes place in a time
where racism was seen as just the way things are; However, there are a few people, such as
Atticus Finch, who are actively against racism. We can see the rise in this justice movement
with the teachings of Atticus to his children that no matter who the person is you should not
discriminate against them because you do not know there life. The story of “To Kill A
Mockingbird” follows the Finch family and the racial injustices of the early to middle 1900s.
Casteism was a common thing in the time period all of this took place. No one saw
discrimination as a bad practice they just thought “Oh he is black so of course I am better than
him” and there would be no reason to not think that, it took caring and critical thinking people to
realise and fight against this.
Prejudices against certain ethnicities have been around since the beginning of the human race
so coming to terms with total equality is going to be tough. We can see in the book that even the
finch family has a kind of Caste system with there family hand Culpirnia. She is an african
american living with a white family as a maid, even though it can be seen as Atticus supporting
her it is still a position seen as slave job in the states. Another example which is the most
obvious is the court case against Tom Robinson when a man is assumed guilty before being
tried.
Until my father explained it to me later, I did not understand the subtlety of Tom’s
predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances
and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run—a sure sign of guilt. (19.76-
77).
Even though this could be said that it’s not as bad as slavery, throwing someone to the ground
and spitting on them with your self given power isn’t much better.