To kill a mockingbird

In the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a courageous lawyer finds himself defending a black man charged with rape, in a very racist town. Although many people think that racism was abolished around the late 1960’s, there are still many prejudices today, just like in the novel. One example would be the Trayvon Martin case. In society today, there are many racial prejudices, one of them being the Trayvon Martin incident. On February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman saw Martin walking inside the gated community where Martin was visiting his father and his father's fiancée. Zimmerman called the Sanford Police Department to report Martin's appearance and behavior as suspicious. Shortly afterwards, there was an altercation, which ended with Zimmerman fatally shooting Martin once in the chest at close range. Although Zimmerman is white, allegations of racist motivation for the shooting and police conduct contributed to public demands for Zimmerman's arrest. In relation to the novel, society has made multiple assumptions and judgments based on race. In the novel, Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white girl in a very racist town. At first, he was not given a hearing, but was then later tried, and found guilty. Not only was most of the jury white, but they were also racist, therefore judging Robinson before he was even heard. Atticus, Tom’s lawyer, explains to Jem, “When it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (223). Tom Robinson was clearly innocent, but because he was black, the jury thought otherwise. In the Trayvon Martin shooting, Zimmerman was white, but there were many people who accused him of shooting Martin because he was black. Contrary to many peoples’ beliefs, there are still many racial prejudices today.