How Does Stevenson Use Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Isn't it terrible how people have to suffer from injustice due to other people's negative idea of what justice should be? In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the main characters Scout, a bright girl who is oblivious to the terrible realities of society, observes the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man who was wrongfully convicted of rape. As Scout becomes older her little eyes are enlightened to the injustices in the once uncomplicated world around her. In a similar way, Bryan Stevenson's "We Need to Talk about an Injustice" TED Talk from 2014 discusses how his morals shifted as he studied law, interacted with people on death row, and learned about flaws in the legal system. Together, Harper Lee and Bryan Stevenson use their

Throughout the book as well as the TED Talk, the idea of justice is taught by adults to the youth which influenced their idea of justice. After Tom Robinson’s trial Atticus found out that Tom may receive the death penalty before there was proof that he was even guilty. Atticus told his children Jem and Scout that night as he was disappointed with the justice system for allowing that to happen: “As you grow older you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it–whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Lee 253). Atticus is relaying the message to his children that malevolent white people can easily take advantage of their rights, power and privilege to think they are better than black men for no real good reason. This makes white men not good people. Atticus is trying to teach his children not to rob black people of the justice they deserve because he firmly believes that all people, regardless of color, are equal and should be treated

Stevenson also delivers a message to people about developing their own ideas and opinions of doing what is right and fair. After Tom Robinson's testimony the jury declared him guilty, and the judge agreed the Finch family was devastated, “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting” (Lee 243). When Jem says “It ain’t right” he is saying it’s not fair that Tom Robinson is getting the death penalty when he is innocent. While the rest of the multitudes of people were cheerful of Tom’s punishment, Jem was not and that shows how he is developing his own opinions on justice that's different from the white townspeople. In “We Need to Talk About an Injustice,” Bryan Stevenson shares a moment he had with his grandmother from when he was a kid, where she says to him, "The second thing I want you to promise me is that you'll always do the right thing even when the right thing is the hard thing" (Stevenson). Steveson learned at a young age that he had to be able to make his own decisions for himself of what justice means to him. If a situation were to come up that he needed to express his belief of right and wrong that even if it might not be easy he