The Social Issue Of Racism
Racism is one of the world’s biggest problems, and it has been for a very long time. Racism is when someone treats a group differently because of how they look. Racists think that their race is better than other races.
Discrimination against races can happen to any race, but it happens most often to African Americans in the United States. African Americans have been mistreated and mistreated by white people for hundreds of years. Racism is a common theme in many books, movies, poems, and other works of art. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the Bible are two books that deal with racism. To Kill a Mockingbird teaches us lessons about racism that are similar to the second part of Jesus’s greatest commandment, which is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Racism in America has been going on since the first colonies were set up. In the early 1600s, slaves were brought to North America. For their farms, the colonists needed free or cheap labor. In North America, slavery became a way of life. People fought against slavery for many years, but the slave trade kept growing. Nat Turner led one of the most famous slave revolts against white slave owners in 1831. He recruited a lot of slaves and killed 60 white slave owners. People took notice of this rebellion, and it showed that people wanted things to change. In the 1830s, the Underground Railroad started helping slaves get away from their owners. A lot of black and white people helped build the Underground Railroad.
They helped set many slaves free. The Civil War began in 1861. The North and the South fought in the Civil War. Eleven southern states tried to leave the Union and form the Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president. When he was elected, the southern states tried to leave the Union. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which came out in 1862, freed all slaves in the United States. Even though the South lost the war and the government ended slavery, people did not change their minds. White people still treated black people badly. In 1896, this hatred led to the passing of the Jim Crow laws, which made it illegal to mix people of different races. Segregation means that people are kept apart, but they are still treated the same. This made whites and blacks even more angry at each other.
In the 1930s, there was a lot of racism against African Americans. There was even more violence. The Ku Klux Klan was a racist hate group that tried to stop African Americans from voting and speaking out against oppression. The Ku Klux Klan was started in 1866, and they are still around today. The Ku Klux Klan did horrible, racist, violent things that are hard to talk about. Many black people were killed, lynched, and had their lives ruined by the KKK. Members of the Ku Klux Klan were white supremacists who couldn’t see black people as equal citizens. Worst of all, a lot of people helped this group. In the 1920s, about 4 million people joined the KKK.
In the 1930s, everyone in the United States was hurt by the Great Depression, but African Americans were hurt the most. In many cities, black people were fired so that businesses could hire white people who were out of work. There was also still a lot of segregation. There were separate churches, bathrooms, schools, and water fountains for black people. Many of the separate places for black people were old and not as nice as the places for white people. There were many protests against the Jim Crow laws, but the Civil Rights Act wasn’t made until 1964. The Civil Rights Act made it against the law to treat people differently based on their race, religion, or gender.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about how people treat each other because of their race. Atticus Finch is a lawyer, and his children are Jean Louise, Scout, and Jem. Scout is telling the story. The people of Maycomb, Alabama, are going through hard times because of the Great Depression. At the beginning of the story, Jem, Scout, and their friend Dill are interested in a scary house in their neighborhood. Boo Radley, a hermit who lives in the area, owns the house. Even though no one really knows Boo, he sounds like a monster, according to what he said. Jem says, “Boo was about six feet and a half tall, based on his tracks. He ate raw squirrels and any cats he could catch for food, which is why his hands were stained with blood. If you ate an animal raw, the blood would never come off.
He had a long, jagged scar across his face. His teeth were yellow and rotten. His eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (Lee 16) Scout goes to school for the first time later in the book. She hates it. At school, she has to deal with racism and sexism. Later in the book, a white woman says that Tom Robinson, an African-American man, raped her. Atticus Finch chooses to stand up for him. Because of this, racist white people make fun of the Finch family.
Tom Robinson has to deal with a lot of hard things, like almost being killed by white supremacists in a lynching. When Tom Robinson’s trial comes around, Atticus shows the jury that Tom Robinson is not guilty. Mayella Ewell, the woman who is accusing Tom Robinson, lies about him because she felt bad when her father caught her hitting on Tom. Mr. Finch shows that Mayella’s face wounds were not caused by Tom but by her father. Even though the truth showed the opposite, the all-white jury did not change its decision. In the end, Tom Robinson is found guilty by the jury. Tom goes to jail, but he later tries to get out. He is killed by a gunshot. Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella Ewell, wants to get back at Atticus for making him look like a fool. Jem and Scout are hurt by him. Lucky for them, Boo Radley is there to help. Even though the kids already had ideas about Boo, this teaches them not to judge someone before getting to know them. Scout learns how to be kind and care about other people. She has to deal with racism, but she learns that it comes from hatred that isn’t based on facts. Scout and Jem change as people, and they learn that the bad things that have happened to them shouldn’t make them stop being good.
To Kill a Mockingbird has many examples of racism. Three of these are when people call African Americans the “n-word,” when two white people falsely accuse a black man of rape, and when an all-white jury convicts a black man even though there is evidence that he is innocent. When Mrs. Dubose tells Jem, “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” she is making fun of African Americans. (Lee 229). Mayella and Bob Ewell say that Tom Robinson has raped them in the book. Mayella Ewell felt bad because her father saw her flirting with Tom and he didn’t like it. She told everyone that Tom raped her to hide the truth. During the trial, Atticus Finch shows that Mayella Ewell was not raped by Tom Robinson. Even though the jury is all white, they still put him in jail. There is a lot of racism in this book. There are many more racist things that happen in To Kill a Mockingbird, but these are just three examples.
Harper Lee grew up when racism and segregation were common. She also lived in Alabama, a state with a lot of racism. To Kill a Mockingbird is not Harper Lee’s autobiography, but there are parts of the book that sound like things she might have gone through. Lee was born in 1927. He grew up during the Great Depression and the time when blacks and whites were kept separate. The story takes place in the 1930s, during the Great Depression and segregation. When the story took place, Scout, the main character, would have been about the same age as Lee. The story also takes place in Alabama, where Lee was born.
Scout learns that racism and sexism come from ignorant hatred. She learns to do what’s right even when no one else does. Atticus Finch stands up for Tom Robinson because he wants to do the right thing. He shows Scout and Jem how to love everyone in this way. The three main characters in the book are Scout, Jem, and Atticus. They’re the good guys. They showed the rest of the world how to live. The main characters are against racism, while the bad guys are racist. The fact that Lee’s heroes don’t like racism shows that Lee doesn’t like it either. If she was racist, her enemies would not be racist because they are her enemies. To Kill a Mockingbird shows us that racism and hatred are wrong and that you should always choose love.
Many people look to the Bible for advice on how to live. God made us so that we can live together and accept each other. The Bible tells us that we should always love our neighbors. Matthew 22:37–39 says, “He (Jesus) said to him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'” This is the first and most important rule. And the second one is similar: “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (The Bible, Sparks NSRV 1087) Your neighbor is everyone who lives on Earth, not just the people who live on your street. God wants us to care about everyone. Racism is wrong. It is rude and shouldn’t be done. God loves everyone who is his child. It doesn’t matter to him if they are black, white, or brown. He loves us no matter what.
Racism is wrong, as shown by the Bible and To Kill a Mockingbird. These works show us that we should love even when it’s hard. You can’t just do what other people do. You should always do what’s right. To love someone, you have to get to know them and accept them as they are. Hatred and making decisions based on fear have no place here. God made each of us unique, and he wants us to love one another.
