Racism, Discrimination and to Kill a Mockingbird Essay

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Throughout the years racism has been a common problem and is happening all around us. In earlier times black people were used as slaves and did have little to no rights at all, but now discrimination between blacks and whites is illeagal and we are all supposed to have equal rights. Although the discrimination is illeagal it has happened in the judical system in the past that juries and other people have made their decision based on the defendants race. Like in the case of Tom Robinson from the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” and in the case of Stephen Lawrence the verdict seems to have been based mainly on their colors. So that leads me thinking if people of all races will ever be equal in the justice system and to the rest of the world. In my opinion racism still excists in the court room, but I think it has reduced a lot in the past 80 years. In the book “To kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee we get to know a black man named Tom Robinson. He lives in Maycomb, Alabama and is a good and helpful man, he always wants to do everything he can to help people. Mayella Ewell, a white girl, often asked him to help her with her chores and he of course did. One time when he was helping her she kissed him but when her father saw she was embarressed and said he raped her and beat her up. The thing was she had bruises on the left side of her face but Tom was paralyzed in the left arm after he got stuck in a cotton making machine, so he could not have done it. Still the jury convicted him guilty of all charges. Its very likely that he was only found guilty because he was black. In the year 1993 a black teenage boy named Stephen Lawrence and his friend, Duwayne, were patiantly waiting for a bus in South East London. Stephen was checking to see if the bus was coming when a group of five white youths came, they stabbed Stephen twice but his friend managed to run away. There
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