Unfair Laws

The Jim Crow laws were laws that gave African Americans disadvantages. The disadvantages were in Public Social,Economic,and School problems.

They gave white's supremacy over African Americans. This applied a lot in TKAM. This gave African Americans a hard time.

In the court Tom had no voice.This was wrong because he was being ignored. He should have had a voice to defend himself. A similar event to this in TKAM is when Adolphus Raymond married a African American. They called his child a "mixed baby"

Blog 4

During Tom Robinson's trial there were multiple things wrong. First of there was a lack of evidence which unfairly because of his race still was thought of as possible of being guilty even with no legitimate evidence. Also the all white jury was bias and certainly not in his favor. The only thing that was helpful was having Atticus as his defense attorney who would stand up for Tom more than anyone else, but sadly all that did was buy Tom a little extra time for the jury to still determine the guilty verdict. This is how most injustice in courts happen in current time there is either a lack of evidence, racial stereotypes that influence people to think negatively, or a lack or representation. All this leads up to the horrible injustice that is sometimes seen throughout our court system.  

Blog 2

"Maycomb County has recently been told that it has nothing to fear but fear itself." pg. 6

I didn't think about it very much at the time of me first reading this part of the book, but basically this quote starts off the book by showing the corruption we bring upon ourselves in towns, communities, and in society in general. Within Maycomb, EVERYONE talks about each other. When gossip gets out it gets around the town in hours. This leads townspeople to almost this fear of the slightest mess up. It's like if they do something wrong, everyone will judge them and bring shame to their family.

What should happen is that the people support each other. Instead of always spreading the bad news, why not spread the good? Instead of having tea circles where ladies all gather together and trash talk, why not gather and talk of how to improve the community and the good outcomes they've had?
If the town were to all "vibe" together on good energy and yummy tea then honestly, so many things could be so easily fixed. ;)
 

I can relate this to gossip among teens locally at DSA and probably at all high schools. It's like there's always this weird pressure to be good enough, to not do stupid things, to not embarrass yourself, to wear the right clothing, to act a certain way... When really, if we all just didn't care about this "fear" of disapproval, we could all be cool, unqiue, and individual people to our own selves.

Blog 3

Let me start off here by saying all, yes ALL, of my uncles are lawyers. I have five of them. I have huge influence from all of them, making me strongly believe in justice through the court system. Everyone who is accused of a crime should be subject to a fair trial, representation, and persecuted under CLEAR evidence.

In TKAM Tom Robinson was accused with the crime of raping Mayela Ewell. This case rested on the word of Bob Ewell, Mayella's father, along with Mayella's herself. First of all, a case like shouldn't even be able to hold weight in the first place. There's this thing called "proof," yeah, none of that here! Second, even though Heck Tate, the sheriff, was called to the stand, he gave no clear evidence to what really happened either. Since he never called a doctor to analyze Mayella's injuries directly after the events of the "crime", no one will ever be able to tell if they were actually from Robinson. 

Considering all the evidence Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson's lawyer, gave the jury, I believe that Bob Ewell beat up Mayella. It makes sense. The blows were on the right side of Mayella's face, making it virtually impossible for a crippled man to oppose these. AND, Bob just so happens to be left handed...

 

I can relate this to many cases in today's society. If you have more money in today time, or basically were just white back then, then you usually get a better representation and outcome from the case at hand. If you're not as financially gifted in today's time, or were of color back then, you're usually not going to get the best representation. This is extremely unfair and is still a growing and heated issue that needs to be brought to the attention of many and dealt with.

TKAM injustice lives on

As we all know the trial in to kill a mockingbird was pretty unfair and biased. The jury based a lot of their decisions on race and didn't look at the facts. In the end Tom ended up being shot as he tried to escape prison. To them Tom was just another black criminal that didn't matter.

Recently, there's been news about Laquan McDonald, a black teen that was shot sixteen times by a white police officer. The officer says he shot in self-defense that he was scared for his life. Yes, that can be a valid reason at times but was it necessary for him to continue shoot after McDonald was down. Officer Jason Van Dyke was put in jail on first degree murder charges but was then released on bail. Yeah, let's release the murderer it'll be fine yeah we don't do that for everyone else but let's allow him to leave jail. Anyway, there is a video from the police dash cam showing the event that took place, if you would like to watch click here. Viewer discretion is advised because it does show the shooting take place. Here's an article about it as well click here.

You might wondering how this relates to TKAM well I'm going to tell you. Yes there is the connection between Tom Robinson and Laquan McDonald both being shot many times while trying to escape. In this case tom was escaping prison while McDonald was trying to escape arrest. But there is also a connection between the law enforcement's actions with the events that occurred. The law enforcement in TKAM was very biased, believing everything Bob Ewell said and not listening to Tom at all.

With this recent case the law enforcement quickly believed officer van dyke had a perfect and valid reason to murder McDonald. This case was left in the dark for quite a while but then the video got released and people realized they shouldn't have been quick to believe officer Van Dyke.

In both cases we see white men using their privilege to get away with crimes that others wouldn't. If we had a video of the event from TKAM we could clearly see the injustice that happened but we don't. What we do have is the video from the Laquan McDonald's shooting. Officer van dyke was quick to make up a story and say he was attacked. We believed him, he was the officer right? Well then you see the video and the lies are revealed. Just the fact that this guy got released even after this video is showing that there is still corruption and injustice in our law system. Just like in TKAM we still don't have perfect and unbiased trials and law enforcement. With all this news about innocent blacks being shot and corruption in our legal systems we really can see how injustice lives on. Of course not everyone agrees with my opinions but this is my take on it. Everyone has their own thoughts and opinions especially on topics such as this.

Scottsboro Trials Blog 2

The Scottsboro Trials were a series of trials against nine African-American teenagers that were accused of raping two white women while on a train. During the case there was a lack of evidence similar to in TKAM. There were many things wrong with the trial, they were poorly represented, the jury was all white which meant they were all most certain going to be guilty, and they should've been tried in juvenile court. These were kids, people our age and they were accused of rape which is sad that society actually could believe that kids would do this. What I can't believe is reading that during one of the re-trials, one of the victims admitted to fabricating the rape story. Clearly showing their innocence, but yet the lack of justice in the court system strikes again, and when it was all over, all but one of the nine teens were convicted of rape and sentenced to death. The injustice of the court system for the Scottsboro Trials and in general is just like the trial of Tom Robinson, there was a lack of evidence, and an all white jury, that lead to an unfair, wrong verdict of being guilty just because of his race.

Hypocrites Blog 1

"Over here(America) we don't believe in persecuting anybody" - Miss Gates

While talking about Hitler persecuting Jews Miss Gates, Scout's teacher tells the class how America doesn't persecute anyone, and that were not prejudice like Hitler is to the Jews. Which is a little or more like very hypocritical to say since earlier she talked about how its time blacks were taught a lesson. Is Hitler not doing to the Jews what America is doing to people of color at the time? Persecuting a group for no legit reason, except to have an escape goat for all the problems of the depression. This is just like hypocrites today such as one of the biggest Donald Trump. He is just like Miss gates except he is hypocritical towards Mexicans."They're sending people that have lots of problems,and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists". Later in his campaign goes on to say how he loves Mexicans and their spirit. Even though Miss gates wasn't a politician she still was similar to Trump in being a hypocrite. While hers wasn't directly hypocritical to blacks like Trump is to Mexicans she still fails to realize that her hatred towards people of color is the same as how Hitler is persecuting Jews.

friendship = LIFE

• BLOG POST JUAN 

"This time we aren't fighting the Yankees, we're fighting our friends. But remember this, no matter how bitter things get, they're still our friends and this is still our home."
This quotes can show many different expressions . The first sentence says " This time we aren't fighting the Yankees" so this says an expression , like their fighting a famous team . but they are actually referring about fighting their friends from he rest of the quotes!!!! In the second sentence , they seem to make a somewhat promise to the other person , their talking to "But remember this, no matter how bitter things get , their still our friends and this is still our life " so they are explaining that if  that it ever happens again , that it wont happen again and they'll fix fit. The whole thing the quote says is that friendship is very important to them and it won't happen again because of how important it is . The confusing part is that they say that they won't fight their friends but at same time, they say " we're fighting our friends" before saying that they're still our friends and this is still our home !! It's amazing that how people thought back in the 19's but in present time , we kinda still think that , even though its been 50 years or more

bias law

"...If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would have been a free man..." This quote says that the law can be bias. The people that enforce the law can be bias such as in a white man v.s. a black man, the white man wins or if it's a man v.s. a woman a man win usually would win sense women don't have that status of equality. In Pennsylvania a woman got blamed for her own rape. This usually happens because men say things like "she wanted some because of the way she was dressed." The fact that women don't get the justice they should is wrong because rape is something that can ruin a person life. Also men rape does happen but since people see men as a dominant gender so they don't even care. The law isn't just bias, it can also fail to do its job. Johanna Orozco was shot in the face by her former boyfriend. This happened because the system wasn't able to keep him in a juvenile correction center.  I personally think the system can be unfair because of the people that enforcement. We have people that are racist such as Chief Lopez in Durham in Jesus Huerta was claimed to kill himself in the back of a police car while handcuff.

Is it really fair?

"In our courts,when it's a white man's word against a black man's,the white man always win"

Tom Robinson was accused of raping a girl under age. He went to court with the girl he supposedly raped. He went to the court and ended up losing it because at the time of the court white people didn't like black people. What was right was that they went to court. What was wrong was the court should have never happened. Tom didn't do anything so he didn't deserve that. She lied about getting rape. The court was just helping the white girl. What should've happen to make it right is he should've won the court. An event that happened in my life similar to this.

 Dress codes on schools are more harsh on girls than guys. Girls aren't allowed to wear tank tops. I can see why they wouldn't be allowed. They are also not allowed to wear booty shorts. Us guys are allowed to wear pretty much anything but hats. This seems unfair to girls. 

Seperate but equal

"Separate but equal " This quote reminds me about back in the old days about jim crow because back then black people didn't have the same rights as the white did , The black people would suffer alot and not having the same rights as the white . this is wrong because everyone should be equal .

¨The older you grow the more of it you´ll see.The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box. As you grow older , you´ll see white men cheat black men every day in your life , but let me tell you something and don´t you forget it- whenever a white man , no matter who he is , how rich he is , or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash ... There´s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who´ll take advantage of a negro´s ignorance. Don´t fool yourselves- it´s all adding up and one of these days we´re going to pay the bill for it. I hope it´s not in you children´s time .¨

 it´s talking about how people are often unfair to black people , how they find a negro guilty on something they wouldn´t do and make a sacrifice on alot of things they wouldn´t do . i've seen in alot of cases on the news where black people would get shot by white men in alot of cases where black men would run and white rather then just hand cuff them they prefer to hit them hard or end up shooting them but i think that all humanity should be equal because we need peace and horror and cops shooting colored people .

Let's Premote the Rich While People!! (Not being racist, just making a joke)

Why do we need photos to vote! I mean seriously, the voter ID law being passed in NC next year, biggest load of BS I have EVER seen!

If you don't know what the ID voter law is, let me explan. A while ago after the representitives of NC were elected, they passed a law that says all voters must provide a photo ID when voting. Now, you may be asking, what's the big deal, I have a drivers license/passport I can present. But, if you are reading this, you probably have a computer and therefor money to spend. A drivers license costs a lot of money,  so does a passport. So, by forcing photo ID, it's cutting off all the people who don't have enough money (which sadly is mostly black, Hispanic, or people in poverty, not being racist, it's just the truth) and therefor they can't vote because they don't have enough money to get a darn ID. This leaves the demographic of Ritch white people who only want more money for themselves and everyone else can rot away to vote for the person who most likely will earn them more cash.

Now, the "reason" they are doing this is because it will prevent voter fraud, but really, they just want to promote capitalist money making crap. AKA, Donald Trump in a nutshell.



"How does this relate to TKAM?" You are at asking. Well, if this law were to pass, it would effect Maycomb very negatively. A lot of Maycomb is poor. Many of them can't even drive. If this were to pass, Maycomb would be completely cut off from voting and interacting with the legal sysptem in many ways. The people who could vote would be the rich people left in Maycomb. This leaves He k Tate, Judge Taylor, and maybe Atticus. Atticus would probably vote for the right person but I definatally wouldn't trust the ruler of the country with Hech Tate.

Because Maycomb is such a poor town, the people who would usually be rich are poor. Like, a lawyer would usually get a lot of money, but look at Atticus. He literally gets payed in chickens. So, is this law were to pass, almost NO ONE is Maycomb could vote because Maycomb is such a poor. Town.

A lot of the black community is also poor. A large majority of the community workes for one guy! They almost all work for Link Dees. Link Dees isn't a very rich guy either. So basically in Maycomb, poor perpetuates poor. It seems to never stop. So long story short, when this law is passes, Maycomb is out of the voting system forever.

Blog 5

A current news story that relates to To Kill a Mockingbird is one about Voting ID laws in North Carolina. "Beginning in 2016, most voters will need to show acceptable photo ID at the polls," the official website reads. Acceptable forms of ID include a drivers license, state ID card, passport, veterans ID card, military ID card, or tribal ID card. This makes it virtually impossible for undocumented immigrants, people who don't drive or deposit checks, and many other groups of people, to vote or contribute to society in other ways. In TKAM, there are prejudices seen every day in Maycomb county. Whether that be big things, like Tom Robinson getting convicted without enough evidence or getting shot 17 times and dying after a few shots, to to things that happen every day, like Scout being looked down for being a girl, or wealth in Maycomb that affects social status and the way people treat each other.

There are obviously many things wrong with this. Voting is a right that EVERYONE should have, no matter it be if you're from a different city, state, country, or continent. Everyone in America came from somewhere else. Denying some people the right to do such a basic thing as vote is just wrong. I hope in a month, North Carolina's government decides to come to their senses.

Blog 5

LINK TO ARTICLE

This is a link to the article Officer in Chicago Shooting Released from Jail. In this article a white police officer charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a black teenager last year was released from jail on Monday after his lawyer pledged that he was not a flight risk and that he intended to mount a vigorous defense at trial.

JUDGE DONALD D. PANARESE JR., OF COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, SET BAIL AT $1.5 MILLION FOR THE OFFICER, JASON VAN DYKE, AFTER WATCHING A VIDEO FROM A POLICE DASHBOARD CAMERA OF THE SHOOTING. HOURS LATER, OFFICER VAN DYKE, THE FIRST CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER IN DECADES TO BE CHARGED WITH MURDER IN AN ON-DUTY SHOOTING, POSTED 10 PERCENT OF THAT, OR $150,000, AND WAS FREED.

(I dont know why that ^^^ all copied over in caps...weird...)

THIS IS A LINK TO A VIDEO

First of all, itś so incredibly wrong that an incident happened like this in the first place. It was flat out murder and brings so much shame to the police department. Regarding the specific of Van Dyke getting out jail in this article, I dont think thatś okay. His bail was set so high for a reason: so he couldnt get out of jail. For him to only pay a percentage and get off easy until is trial? Not cool. 

What SHOULD HAVE happened is he stayed in jail until trial. Flight risk or not, it is not acceptable for a man who has committed such a devastation to be free in the world while awaiting his trial which will expectantly also take a very long time, just giving him more free time.

When reading this article I relate the police officer, Van Dyke, to Bob Ewell. In TKAM Bob Ewell is doing a terrible thing to an underprivileged, black man just as Van Dyke did to McDonald. Thereś nothing Tom Robinson could do about his conviction by a white man and McDonald had no way to stop himself from being shot in cold blood, seventeen times.  I honestly dont believe that the case in Chicago has as much to do with racism as the trial in TKAM. This is because I believe our media blows up racism like CRAZY, yes the shooting had aspects of racism, but I believe it was more of a mixture of that and corruption. But, I dont know the whole story. In TKAM there was a crime that needed to be blamed on someone so it was given to a black man because no one would doubt the word of a white man at the time.

Both these events tie together in the end, in that they are terrible events that should have never happened. 

News Today

News today, huh?

Well...

My mom likes to listen to podcasts, and she started one in the fall of 2014. It's called Serial and like its name, it releases a new podcast every week that is a continuation of the previous.  And I admit, I was just as hooked on the podcast as she was, and couldn't wait for the next one. 

The podcast was an investigative story on a 1999 trial where a senior from Baltimore named Adnan Syed was convicted guilty of murdering his ex girlfriend after she disappeared from school one day.  He claims he is innocent and recently a new witness has surfaced claiming they can testify his alibi the night Hae Min Lee was murdered.  The whole season is about host Sarah Koenig digging into the case after that witness who could free Syed disappears again. Now 35, Syed is getting another hearing due to inadequate evidence and legal representation. 

I know this all sounds super lame and nerdy but podcasts are super cool and you should listen to Serial season one. Season two just started November 24 and its just as super awesome as season one.  Just sayin' ;) ;)

Anyway, back to the book.  This all relates to the injustice and corruption the law has shown through out history.

"We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe--some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they're born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than other--some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men.
'But there is one way in this country in which all  men are created equal--there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president.  That institution, gentlemen, is a court...Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.'" (Lee 274)

In Tom Robinson's case, the law was not in his favor, nor in any black person's for that matter at the time.  The same is the case with Hae Min Lee's murder.  I personally believe that he Adnan is innocent, but he was convicted guilty when the corrupt justice system assumed the case was just another stereotypical jealous ex boyfriend kills his ex girlfriend.

Stereotypes.

So often do people assume and stereotype in the justice system in order to move cases along.  Its a sure sign of laziness.  It's not until people uncover these unjust cases and bring it to higher authorities's attention, that there is real justice.  

separate but equal" this is a quote used in the book To Kill A Mocking Bird. this quote stands for the jim crow time period it was a very bad period because blacks couldn't be like white people and that also happened in TKAM with the black person getting put in jail for supposedly  rape when he really didn't. This took place in the year on 1964. I feel like that should have never happened blacks aren't any less because the a different color don't be racist people should have been treated the same  the whole time. being black is not being different  being black is being a human. That is what Atticus is trying to prove from Maycomb.

if its illegal is it really bad?

"Atticus, that's bad" I said. In Maycomb, hunting out of season was a misdemeanor at law, a capital felony in the eyes of the populace.
"it's against the law, all right" said my father.
"and its certainly bad but when a man spends his relief checks n pains. I don't know of any landowner around here who begrudges those children any game their father can hit"
this means that it's okay to break the law when it depends on the life of your children. because yeah its wrong to hunt when its not the season but if  you need to feed your children it does not matter to break the law. (that is the opinion of atticus).
In my onion he does have a point in saying that but if you need to feed your children you do wherever you have to do to feed them. On the news theirs always people who sell drugs because they dont have any other opportunities to have money so they sell drugs.

Law one

"If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man,' said Atticus. 'So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process. Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom’s jury, but you saw something come between them and reason. You saw the same thing that night in front of the jail. When that crew went away, they didn’t go as reasonable men, they went because we were there. There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.'"  

            As we read in the book By Harper lee How to kill a mocking bird we See a trail which has a large connection in real life where an unjust jury and court system. In real life the american justice system to prosecute black African Americans specifically men. Famous trails being Emmett till who two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river, James byrd who had his neck tied to a rope and on the other end of the rope was a Chevrolet pick up truck where he was dragged until his head was ripped off.

  

         Anyways the point is that black men have always gottenthe shot end of the stick and will continue to for a long long time.

Blog 1

"I do. I guess it's to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom's. Besides," Atticues grinned, "I doubt if we'd ever get a complete case tried-the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions." page: 296

This section of the book stuck out to me because of the way Atticus so carelessly puts down women. This whole book he seems like the good, sensible guy who thinks everyone should be equal. But no, this does not expand to the rights of women. He still beliefs that women are too "fragile" and not "sensible enough" to stand on a jury, think for themselves, and make important decisions.

In today's society men and women are created equal...sometimes. I know in the "adult world" there's all sorts of problems with women not getting the same pay and all that but I want to talk about the way girls are treated in the "teenage world."

Now let's get a little personal here, just a few weeks ago, I liked this guy. Everything was great, we held hands, texted every night, and I was treated as if I was the only one for him. He was older than me so I always had that little suspicion in the back of my head thinking I was getting played, was I just a little freshman getting played by a junior? But I pushed it away. Problems ended up arising and things didn't work out. It's funny how after a relationship you find all the flaws. People started telling me he was talking to another girl too, didn't tell his friends about me, acted as if a relationship was in the future with me but told me not yet then gets an official girlfriend two weeks after we break up? Yeah, real nice guy. Accuses me for ruining the relationship when I got mad over something little he did when it could have easily been fixed by a simple apology on both our parts.

Differing from in TKAM, women are now allowed to serve on the jury. It's law that our courts have a diverse society. That's great. But there's so much more to change.

Even now, in this society, men put down women. We're put down as less sensible and just toys to be played with. Not cool. Not cool at all. Throughout time, we deserve respect. Respect in the fact that we are important, independent individuals.