Last night we watched ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. Set in 1934 Alabama, we saw a world of segregation, where the black population were vulnerable to injustice, and, extrajudicial killing.
It tells of lawyer, Atticus Finch, defending Tom Robinson, an innocent black man maliciously accused of the rape of a white girl. The story is told through the innocent yet perceptive young eyes of Finch’s children Scout and Jem, and their friend Dill.
Finch, encouraging kindness and empathy in his children tries retain their childhood innocence and protect them from the prejudice, violence, hypocrisy, lies and injustice that surround them…
It would have been convenient and easy to say that the ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ world is different from today’s world; it’s a piece of social history. Sadly, it seems that, nearly a hundred years later, our world hasn’t changed.
In recent years ‘Black Lives Matter’ points to ongoing hatred and injustice. On Wednesday a man, armed with a knife, stabbed and wounded two Jewish men in Golders Green, London. Declared as a terrorist incident by the Metropolitan Police, this attack is yet another example of the prejudice and violence that continues today.
Musing…
Complexity: Yesterday I chatted to a woman about her love for her addict brother who’d taken money from their mother… Atticus Finch’s world wasn’t divided conveniently into tidy boxes of justice – injustice, love – hate, integrity – hypocrisy.
Compromise: I’ve often supported Atticus Finch’s view that there’s good in everyone. It’s an easy copout… giving legitimacy to the school bully, the Islamic terrorist, the neo-Nazi… Sometimes compromise isn’t possible; I must call out wrong and stand up for the good.
Comfort: I want an easy life. I can watch the news on TV, sit as an audience in the theatre, talk about injustice and violence, point the finger at those who are ‘wrong’, have armchair opinions, remaining distanced and detached.
Praying… for a more loving, more equal, more just world… and that I might do my part to make my world a better place.
All images from the Norwich Theatre Royal website
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