Black Criminal Stereotypes and Racial Profiling Essay

Harper Lee vividly describes the immorality of racism and prejudice. Lee reveals the many racist practices that take place in a small town in Alabama. Jean Louise Finch who is referred to as â€Å"Scout†, shares many incidences that took place while she was growing up with her brother Jem and father Atticus. Tom Robinson is a character that is falsely accused of beating and raping a white woman and is found guilty. Atticus Finch who is not only a wonderful father to Scout and Jem, but also performs miracles in the courtroom as a remarkable lawyer for Maycomb county, is standing as Tom’s lawyer in the trial. Lee exposes the many racist and prejudice individuals through a specific character and that character is Tom Robinson. When Bob Ewell goes to testify he points at Tom and says â€Å"I seen that black n**** yonder ruttin on my Mayella† (pg. 173). Bob Ewell is portraying Tom to be an animal who has violated his daughter. Black Demps 2 Men were(are) usually portrayed in this manner because of the racist ideologies that ‘all black males are aggressive’ and ‘all black males are rapists’. Tom is an impoverished black male attending a trial, with an all-white jury because he was accused of raping a white woman, due to these things he is at an automatic risk of being announced guilty and denied any justice. Atticus takes the case to defend Tom, knowing he would be shamed for it, and looked down upon, as a white man in America. Even though evidence of Tom’s innocence was displayed to the jury, they still announced him guilty because of their racist and prejudice ideologies, instead of analyzing the factual evidence that was presented to them. Relationships between whites and blacks were forbidden so when Mayella became attracted to Tom she felt a sense of guilt. She knew that she would be looked down upon in the white community, which is why she did not hesitate to lie in court and to her self about the situation. â€Å"If there’s just one kind of folks, why can’t they get along with each other? If they’re all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other?† (lee, 259). Scout is beginning to see the hatred and the iniquitous way that people of color are being treated and she is beginning to think on her own and view the world and the way of life in a more mature manner. Demps 3 When Scout asks Atticus if he believes he will win the case he answers â€Å"Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win† (Lee, 101). In this quote, Atticus is referring to the racism and prejudice in general terms. He is saying that just because the world is set up a certain way doesn’t mean he has to follow the trends. African Americans have been considered to be less than a human for years and traditionally in a case like such, it does not go in the African Americans favor. So Atticus is saying just because it is traditionally more than likely that Tom won’t win, that does not mean that Atticus can’t try to help Tom. â€Å"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view†¦ Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.† (Lee, 321). Atticus’s ways of processing and analyzing certain situations are very admiring, he tends to think about all of the different perspectives in a situation before he takes any action or speaks any words. Harper Lee uses Atticus as a moral compass, he is seen as the opposer, being the â€Å"N***** lover† in this circumstance. †Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except making music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird.† (Lee,