The racial tension in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and racism in todays modern world using examples and quotes from the book.

Essay by bmk2k4High School, 10th gradeA+, May 2003

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"Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people, too." This is how Mr. Dolphus Raymond put racism into words that kids could understand. However, racism and prejudice are problems that are as complicated as problems come. This is evident in the novel by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird. No one knows what causes racism, if it is inherited, if it runs in families, or if it can be "cured". Prejudice ranges from race and skin color to gender, age, religion, and many other forms. Classic examples of widespread prejudice are the Ku Klux Klan, Adolph Hitler, and Hitler's followers, the Nazi's.

Racism has existed forever and may always exist. I think that time has made it worse. Right now, in the year 2001, I think that racism is at it's strongest. Racial tension is absolutely everywhere. In America's schools, on the streets, and in homes.

MTV recently aired a show called "Take a Stand Against Violence". I heard stories of rapes, shootings, bombings, vandalism, and murder. All of these crimes were committed because of one person's hate for a person or group of people of a different race, religion, or sexual preference.

In the book "To Kill a Mockingbird", there is a huge amount of racial tension all around Maycomb. Almost all white people refer to blacks as "n*ggers" and attend events such as a court hearing in separate sections. Blacks and whites also have completely separate churches. It seems that in the year the book takes place, whites could get away with a lot of stuff that you can't today. For example, calling a black person a "n*gger" nowadays would result in verbal harassment, while back then it was a common word. And now, everyone in...