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Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System
Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System
Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System
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For centuries racial tensions in America has suffered plenty. Within Harper Lee’s fictional novel,To Kill a Mockingbird, the audience is shown how intense race relations, and social injustice. By analyzing race relations both in the novel and present day, one can conclude that social injustice has improved, which can be discussed through specific events in the novel and current issues today. White’s insisted it was blacks own faults for not being able to rise above poverty.In the novel, and in my source whites never wanted to blame themselves for their wrong doings. “But why had he entrusted us with his deepest secret? I asked...Because you’re children and you can understand it” (Lee 211). This shows how back in this time adults never listened …show more content…
So the only way he could get someone to listen to him was through the kids. They didn’t really understand why the things was they was, and they wasn’t quick to judge based off the color of his skin. In the civil rights movement, freedom book it states, “ The whites in the state insisted that it was black people own fault that they couldn’t rise above poverty”(David 17). This was very common around the civil rights time white’s didn’t want to take the blame for black poverty. Back then they made it harder for a black man to make it in society rising education ranges for jobs, to simply changing policies so they couldn’t make it to the place they need to be to make a decent living. They even changed the laws of voting, but an African American had to have two years in college before voting. This is because they thought blacks don’t “understand” or isn’t “smart” enough to make a good decision without further education. Which many wasn’t able to get, because the typical black person only went to sixth grade, and about seven percent finished high school. Blacks were being accused of …show more content…
Today whites in history have realized their wrong doings, and changed their ways. “ He does tollable, cept when- except when? Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing. He sat up straight and waited for her to answer. Except when nothing said mayella” (Lee 183). In this quote it shows how mayella doesn’t see what her dad does to her is wrong. In today’s society children aren’t closed off, and their parents aren’t allowed to get away with beating them. Even though he didn’t realize his wrong doings, things have changed a lot. White’s realized their wrong doings, and made it where everyone has the same rights, opportunities, and a lot more. “ I think that a Niger should have two years in college before voting because he isn’t smart enough” (David 21). Everyone is allowed to vote at the age 18. No matter your race, and you don’t have to go to college to vote. Today you can’t tell a person they can’t vote because they’re black, or because of other race related or social injustice reasons. Today blacks aren’t accused without proper trial, and if anyone gets killed it’s all over the news. “ They shot him said Atticus he was running it was during their exercise period. They said he just broke into a blind raving change at the fence and started climbing over” (Lee 235). This killing never even made it in the news, but in today’s
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird explores the concept of injustice and her readers are introduced to a society where the social hierarchy dominated acts of humanity. We are often put into situations where we witness member of society be inhumane to one another in order to fit into the community and to act selfishly to save yourself. Within the text, we are also commonly shown the racial discrimination that has become society’s norm. Because of the general acceptance of these behaviours, it is explicitly show to all that the major theme Lee is trying to portray is ‘Man’s inhumanity to man’.
The children know of great black people and their ability to move forward but America has failed them. Another rhetorical strategy King uses is procatalepsis. He raises questions with seemingly obvious answers like “Had they shirked their duty as patriots, betrayed their country…Had they refused to defend their land against a foreign foe?” He forces his reader to answer these questions, ultimately leading to self-reflection. The powerful question “Why does misery constantly haunt the negro?” seems rather unexplainable; if it’s not justified it needs to be changed. King pushes for change by causing the reader to think critically. Throughout the passage, King challenges the reader rhetorically, defending the black race and pushing for
Harper Lee sheds light upon the controversy of racism and justice in his classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The notion of equality in accordance to the law and the pursuit of justice are hindered by racial discrimination. The essential essence of human nature is pondered. Are we inclined to be good or in the wrath of evil? The novel reflects on the contrasting nature of appearance versus reality.
...ough Jim Crow laws and how the Blacks responded passively. Through discrimination and racial violence, the Whites created a social situation that forced the Blacks to either accept their inferior role or defy it. Majority of the Blacks, including Wright’s mother, was submissive to the white man. The blacks did not dare defy the Whites and tried to avoid confrontation with them at any cost, event if it meant their lack of pride, dignity and self-respect. It’s also clear that during Wright’s time the Whites dictated the role of the black man. Wright portrayed his life’s experiences as a sign of growth in his understanding of how the world evolved. While other blacks chose their governed role by the white man, Wright learned to subtly defy the whites' oppression. The methods chosen by Wright, made him feel that he was one step closer to his right of freedom.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
As the American people’s standards and principles has evolved over time, it’s easy to forget the pain we’ve caused. However, this growth doesn’t excuse the racism and violence that thrived within our young country not even a century previous. This discrimination, based solely on an ideology that one’s race is superior to another, is what put many people of color in miserable places and situations we couldn’t even imagine today. It allowed many Caucasian individuals to inflict pain, through both physical and verbal attacks, and even take away African Americans ' God given rights. In an effort to expose upcoming generations to these mass amounts of prejudice and wrongdoing, Harper Lee 's classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, tells the story of
I feel the point he was making was that no matter how educated you are in this era, because it was clear to see that he had to be more educated than the other men he worked with by the way the men talked to him. No matter how good you were at your job, and regardless of your work ethic. The color of your skin would set you apart in this era. You could have every qualification in the world, and be more educated than all the Caucasian man around you, but that wouldn't matter. So I believe he found it easier to become societies idea of an African American, than to fight a losing battle at this point. In the long run changes were made. I believe he thought that he couldn't make a difference, which is very sad but true at this point in time.
As I read Black Boy, Griffin provided me with a small insight on the way whites and blacks were differently treated. Black Like Me was based on a white man who wanted to get a better understanding of the life of negroes and how it feels to be treated unequally. He wanted to know what stood between the white man and black man, why they could not communicate. Griffin writes in his book that, “the only way I could see to bridge the gap between us was to become a Negro” (Griffin 1). His journey then began and he lived the life of a black man. It is with such bravery that he went and risked becoming a Negro. He knew that adverse consequences would occur once people knew the truth. He did not care; I was fascinated with his desire to see what...
In Harper Lee’s fictional novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the cruelty of racism due to Jim Crow laws in the south was shown in many examples such as the trial of Tom Robinson, the treatment of black citizens, and the separation of the races. By evaluating the impact of Jim Crow laws on black rights in America during the time period of the novel and present day, it is revealed that the influence of these laws largely remains the same, specifically when evaluating the interactions between people of authority and black citizens.
During the late 19th and early 20th century, racial injustice was very prominent and even wildly accepted in the South. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two of the most renowned “pioneers in the [search] for African-American equality in America” (Washington, DuBois, and the Black Future). Washington was “born a slave” who highly believed in the concept of “separate but equal,” meaning that “we can be as [distant] as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Washington 1042). DuBois was a victim of many “racial problems before his years as a student” and disagreed with Washington’s point of view, which led
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” Ellie Wiesel. Readers may find the amount of injustice in Harper lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a little shocking. This could be why it’s such a popular book. People like the suspense of knowing someone’s right, but still being found guilty for something they did not do. There are many times throughout the book when people are powerless to prevent injustice but they still protest it. This shows that even when people unjustly punish there should always be someone to protest it. The theme of injustice is a common one in harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, whether it be through racism, misinformation, or Arrogance.
When he talks about his education and his father’s lack of support for it he says, “I no longer had any illusions about what an education could do for me; I had already encountered too many college- graduate handymen,” (Baldwin, 18.) Baldwin gives an example of no matter how much effort and dedication a black person would put into finishing a college education and improving chances of a better future, they would still be bound to the white standard of what a black person should do. Baldwin also discusses how he realized that “crime became real… not as a possibility but as the possibility,” (Baldwin, 22). He started to realize how bleak his future would be if he allowed the box white people put him in to define the rest of his life. The recognition of the fact that he was being pushed into a life of crime that white people believed was natural for black people scared him because he finally acknowledged the total lack of power of not only himself but of every black American. Baldwin also notices how his black friends and acquaintances were “unable to say what it was that oppressed them, except they knew it was “the man” -- the white man,” (Baldwin, 19). This constant oppression is what keeps most black people from breaking out of poverty, and makes it extremely difficult to succeed in white America. Poverty is one of the main obstacles America puts in the way of black people’s ultimate
Racism presents itself in many ways in the town of Maycomb. Some are blatant and open, but others are more insidious. One obvious way that racism presents itself is in the result of Tom Robinson’s trial. Another apparent example is the bullying Jem and Scout had to endure as a result of Atticus’s appointment as Tom Robinson’s defense attorney. A less easily discernible case is the persecution of Mr. Dolphus Raymond, who chose to live his life in close relation with the colored community.
There is some evidence that connects our protagonist's line of thinking with his upbringing. Our protagonist's mother tells him, "The best blood of the South is in you," (page 8) when the child asks whom his father is. Clearly, his mother was proud of (and perhaps still in love with) this genteel white man who gave her a son. So his bold pronouncements make much sense in light of his own condition.
'Democracy,' she said. 'Does anybody have a definition?' ... 'Equal rights for all, special privileges for none' (Lee 248).