Examples Of Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

As Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, once said, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” Justice is yet to be achieved because society refuses to assuage its racism and stereotypes. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in the fictitious town of Maycomb, Alabama. This novel is told from the perspective of Scout, a young girl, whose father, Atticus, is a lawyer. Atticus teaches his children, Scout and Jem, many lessons about fairness and doing the right thing. Atticus understands justice greatly because throughout the book he is a White lawyer defending a Black man. Similarly, Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer for those on death row, discusses injustices and systemic racism in his TED Talk,

After Atticus explains to Jem that the jury was never going to give Tom Robinson a fighting chance, he concludes, “There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads--they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (Lee 252). Systemic racism is such an extensive issue in society, which is why Atticus is saying that whenever a Black man is against a White man in court, the White man will come out victorious. From the very beginning, Atticus believed that there was a very little chance that Tom Robinson would come out of this trial as a free man. Atticus thought this because he knows what kind of world he lives in: a world where a Black man gets stereotyped and the White family is set free. In Bryan Stevenson’s TED Talk, he describes the statistics of imprisoned Black people, stating, “One out of three Black men between the ages of 18 and 30 is in jail, in prison, on probation or parole” (Stevenson). If people change their morals to be more focused on treating everyone equally, the number of incarcerated Black people will slowly lessen. It is highly likely that some of these men are innocent but will have a hard time proving so because of their race. One out of three is a very big ratio that can only be decreased if systemic racism is eliminated. Together, Lee and Stevenson highlight the injustices

In Atticus’s final statement, he concludes his case and makes the point that there is little evidence proving Tom Robinson’s guilt: “The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence . . . It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant” (Lee 231-232). Atticus put his best efforts into this case even though the odds were not in his favor. Atticus provided Tom Robinson with the best chance he was going to get at winning the trial. Fortunately for Tom Robinson, Atticus believes in doing the right thing no matter the difficulty of the task. He did not expect Tom Robinson to be freed, but he still did the right thing and tried his best. Mr. Robinson could have lost the trial very quickly or have been lynched if it was not for Atticus’s kindness and need for everyone to be treated