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Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the trial with Tom Robinson a black man convicted of a crime elucidates racism. The trial evidences that even some of the political leaders can be biased towards one side. In the trial, the jury is one example of those biased leaders. Harper Lee establishes the existence of racism in the novel through many illustrations throughout the story showing that the jury is against Tom for being a black man, and the community is also attacking Atticus for defending Tom.
In Maycomb, during the trial, the jury is racist towards Tom Robinson. This is shown in the book when Atticus is saying his final statement to the jurors. At this point, he has almost given up on making the jury believe Tom is innocent so he just goes straight to pointing out that they are racist. He states, “Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson's skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire."(202). He points out the unfairness of how the jury is obviously choosing Tom to be guilty because he is different. Also, in another

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