They have belief that black people are low-class people who do not deserve respect. They are not in white people’s sight. As the conversation between Scout and Dill after the trial. Scout says, “Well, Dill, after all he’s just a negro” (Lee 199). This quote shows that black people are treated unfairly in the society.
To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the few books that have many very important themes, such as multiple perspectives, a hero’s journey, and innocence to experience. To Kill a Mockingbird’s story is set up to tell almost all the character’s points of view, even though Scout is the main character. Each character has different perspectives on the issues in the story, and the most important is racism. The most prominent point of view in To Kill a Mockingbird is Atticus’. "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."
Racism is a means to an end, as oppressors employ racist measures in order to achieve power over another group. Wright shows numerous times throughout the novel that racism breeds irrational actions, and points out many times when Southern whites abuse blacks for no reason other than to vent their own frustration. This abuse and subordination of blacks also serves an economic function for the whites, as the blacks are the basic laborers who almost single-handedly support the white economy, for meager pay. Whites abuse blacks in order to keep them in a position where their service would empower
Even though all the old men were black, in Mathu’s eyes they were not equal to his skin tone therefore they were not equal to him. With Mathu’s attitude toward the old men, he was being no different than the white people that looked down on him because of his skin. His role in the novel was a major to understanding the distinction in the story even between skin tones. His role proves how in the old South you were judged by everything and you were put into a certain grouping by everything from your social class, to your skin tone and from your skin tone to your age. Mathu even looked as himself as differ from the other because he was stronger than the other old men.
It shows that through mass media many black males are forced to believe they are supposed to live a certain lifestyle, specifically poor hard working people that will never be more than there are. How do stereotypes make the African American male look in society? This source answers it stating the black male has been labeled as lazy, aggressive, and frustrated savages. This goes back to the late slavery days and has continued. All of these characteristics have been giving to African American males throughout society and the media just advertises these portrayals defeating the black males character.
Negative Black Male Stereotypes: Why We Must, as a Nation, Eliminate Negative Myths, Uncover Knowledge, and Promote Understanding Of more than two hundred and eighty million people currently living in the United States, more than sixteen million are black males. (U.S. Census Bureau) Despite these numbers, this group is grossly misrepresented in the media, marginalized by the government and large white-owned businesses, secretly feared and discriminated against as a result of white-perpetuated myths, and must now face the grim reality that African Americans may forever exist in this country as a permanent underclass if we do not make lasting changes now. Black males today are an endangered species; that is, they suffer from high
Lee includes Dolphus Raymond in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ to explore the issues of racial prejudice surrounding the time in which the novel is set and in the novel itself. Lee uses this extract to show us the challenges that mixed children faced at the time as a result of segregation. During the trial, the events of it cause Dill to become overwhelmed to the point of which he starts to cry, so Jem and Scout take him to the square outside the courthouse. This is where the children first encounter Dolphus Raymond. Dolphus Raymond sees that Dill is crying and responds with ‘cry about the simple hell people give other people – without thinking.
The men in both cases were thought to be guilty simply because they were black. Mayella Ewell was Bob Ewell’s abused, lonely and unhappy daughter. She was the women who Tom Robinson was accused of raping. Like many other southern blacks, toms was not educated and thought to be less of a person by whites. Whether Mayella knew it or not, her accusations against Mr. Robinson were like picking a fight with a man who is not capable of fighting back.
Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, used Tom’s race and physical strength to imply that Tom was just another stereotypical black man who targeted a fair skinned female. Mr. Gilmer hinted that because Tom was strong and coloured, Tom would rape and beat a white woman. Not only was Tom discriminated against on the stand, but after Tom was sent to the slammer, Tom was killed and shot at multiple times after he was already dead. “ ‘Seventeen bullet holes in him. They [the police] didn’t have to shoot him that much.’ ” (235).
For instance, even though the whites are clearly subordinate to the blacks in Edgewater, because of the “durability of racism in the United States,” the whites still believe that they are superior to the blacks, using “the word nigger routinely” (Bourgois & Schonberg 2009:30). Because of this false sense of supremacy, the whites tend to avoid interaction with the blacks and limit the time spent among them as much as possible. The irony of this was that the highest patron to the Edgewater homeless was an African American who provided a camper to sleep in when it rained heavily (Bourgois & Schonberg 2009). However, most of the Edgewater homeless tended to ignore this fact, making false assertions of various crimes, saying they were committed by the African Americans. There were still many instances in “Righteous Dopefiend” where many of the Edgewater homeless called the blacks no good thieves and scoundrels never to be trusted, even without any reason to do so.