Racial Segregation In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she shows how racial discrimination and social segregation was used in the 1930s, and how it compares to today. First off, Harper Lee used the separated colored balcony to show social segregation in the 1930s. On page 219, we see Scout talking to Reverend Sykes when she is trying to find a seat at the courthouse. Reverend exclaims, “Do you all reckon it’ll be all right if you all came to the balcony with me?” (Lee 219). This quote shows how social segregation affected blacks by making them sit separate from white people in the 1930s. This racial issue called segregation has been abolished, but there are still acts of racial discrimination to this day. Secondly, proof of racial discrimination

On June 14, 2014, Jason Harrison’s mother called the police to help her bring her son to the hospital because he stopped taking his prescription for his schizophrenia. “The two responding officers, who were armed with batons and Tasers, drew their guns when Harrison joined his mother at the door while holding a screwdriver. One officer’s body camera recorded him and his partner shooting Harrison five times” (Police Brutality 1). This quote and statistic show how racial discrimination has played a factor in previous police shootings. Thirdly, In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows Tom Robinson being falsely accused of rape because of the racist jury. Mayella was heavily beaten on the right side of her face, so her attacker had to have a very powerful left arm. Tom Robinson’s left arm was caught in a cotton gin, and all the muscles were ripped to shreds, making it useless, so it is not possible that Tom Robinson could have given Mayella those injuries. “He looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he was standing. His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side” (Lee