Examples Of Progress In To Kill A Mockingbird

Moving Forward from the 30s: A Work in Progress

Harper Lee’s infamous novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is one that has been revered for decades for its exploration into the world of racial tension and has commonly been used as a juxtaposition to modern society. The constant evolution of society leads to progress, breakthroughs, and advancements. However, it is worthwhile to see if the amount of progress a nation has made outweighs the setbacks. Words such as “racism,” “police brutality,” and “injustice” flood news stations and social media each and every day. Although America has made distinct progress since the 1930s, modern society still lacks key components of a united nation that would banish the sense of racial tensions across the country;

Numerous statistics provide evidence of inequity in the judicial system. The severity of punishment with African American youth compared to white youth is significantly disproportional, as thirty-seven percent of African American cases are moved to criminal court and fifty-eight percent of the young people end up in adult prisons (Kerby). The amount of progress America has made through many decades is astounding, but facts like these make Americans question how much progress has really been made. This is paralleled with the fictitious Tom Robinson case, in which a black man is incarcerated solely based on the pigmentation of his skin. Sophia Kerby from the Center for American Progress states, “The U.S. Sentencing Commission stated that in the federal system flack offenders receive sentences that are 10 percent longer than white offenders for the same crime” (Kerby). In To Kill a Mockingbird, a white man probably would have gotten out of the trial as “not guilty”, but Tom Robinson’s skin color was the decision-maker. Now, racism is not like the 30s because the majority of people really are not racist, but prejudice still persists. Bias and inclination are pieces of the 1930s that still remain in the criminal justice

With the development of the internet and social media, awareness is more widespread and almost spreads like wildfire. Notwithstanding, police brutality and racial profiling still remain and are ghosts of America’s dark past. In reality, racism is impossible to erase and will always be the barrier between the nation’s past and the nation’s bright future. As Scout Finch said, “‘I think there is just one kind of folks. Folks’” (Lee 227). Although the United States has significant advancements in terms of racism, matters such as police brutality, racial profiling, and prejudice still serve as barriers preventing the nation from making more