Lili Missbrenner
TKM Assessment 8B
Timed Writing
A COUNTRY DIVIDED BY INJUSTICE
From the beginning of time, people have struggled to keep racial and social equality in our communities; however, America as a whole has never been able to fully achieve complete equality for all. Racism is a prejudice that many Americans cannot overcome and will haunt our country forever. In the past there have been wars, riots and treaties all of which have fought to keep the peace between racists and their rivals. After the Civil War, many African Americans suffered the wrath of racism, even after they had been freed from captivity and given their freedom back. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author explores the extent of prejudices against…show more content… Tom was a hardworking man with a steady job and a loving family, however as an African American he was made into a target for white supremacists. Throughout the book the case gets increasingly controversial as Bob Ewell accuses Tom of raping his daughter, even though the accusation was false. Despite Tom’s meaningful testimony and detailed description of the events that happened that night, the jury was not swayed by his efforts to free himself. When Mayella Ewell, the daughter of Bob Ewell, took the stand she made multiple mistakes that could have convinced a jury of Tom’s innocence, however the color of Tom’s skin sealed his fate and he was pronounced guilty. Later in the book the reader discovers that while Tom was in prison he was shot and killed during an escape attempt. Tom’s life would have been very different, had he not been persecuted by the unfairness of racial injustice in America. Although the events that occur in the novel are set to take place in the 1930s, many American citizens are still haunted by racial and social…show more content… Despite these people’s courageous efforts to end the consequences of inequality, countless Americans still live in anger and resentment towards those who see them as inferior. In recent years a movement called Black Lives Matter has surfaced to help protect the lives of African Americans across the country. It began after the murder of a seventeen-year-old African American man in Florida, where the murderer was able to walk free on self-defense charges, even though the victim was unarmed. The result of the case outraged people and sparked the movement for African Americans to speak up even more than before. Ever since the Black Lives Matter campaign started in 2013, there has been an increasing amount of people advocating to end inequality between races and begin the age of equality between all people. Even though there has been plenty of positive activity towards making America a less divided country, there have also been violent riots and fights that have cost people their lives. Equality is a goal that many people in America hope to reach, however it will always be a struggle to fully complete this