“ 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. ”
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). copy citation
| Author | Harper Lee |
|---|---|
| Source | To Kill a Mockingbird |
| Topic | words court |
| Date | 1960 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=YW5udXJpc2xhbWljc2Nob... |
Context
“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.”
“Doesn’t make it right,” said Jem stolidly. He beat his fist softly on his knee. “You just can’t convict a man on evidence like that—you can’t.”
“You couldn’t, but they could and did.”
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