Marcel Turra

Mr. Phillips
English 9B
5 December 2013
Racial War
If you aint better than a nigger, son, who are you better than? (Alan Parker,
Mississippi Burning). The hunger for power and being better than other people is obviously
criticized in the pieces To Kill a Mockingbird and Mississippi Burning. Harper Lee and Alan
Parker did a great job in developing their proposal; emphasizing how racism was strong.
In the story of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper characterize racism in an implicit way. In
the course of the book, the reader can notice discrimination, even it not being explicit, it is shown
by acts of injustice, but in the secret courts of mens hearts Atticus had no case (Harper Lee
323). The jury convicts Tom of rape, even though he is innocent, however they would never
accept a black man word over a white man. When it comes to how racism was emphasized in
Mississippi Burning, violent scenes are very outstanding, for example the scene when the cop
threatens and kick the little kid in the face because he snitches him to the agents (Alan Parker,
Mississippi Burning), very differently than how Harper stresses racism in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Alan Parker chooses a really good resource to show the viewer how racism was back
then; the repetition. Various scenes of KKK acts, black peoples churches being burnt down,
people being spanked to death, hanging people and many cruel acts happens several times to
shock the viewer. Even though we are living 70 years later than when Mississippi Burning and
To Kill a Mockingbird retracts, with more restrict civil rights law and police security, KKK still
acting nowadays; A 20-year-old black woman said she was set on fire by three men who wrote
the initials KKK and a racial slur on her car in northeastern Louisiana". Another scene that marks
and appears constantly, is the signs separating blacks from white, with a really racist term;
Colored People and white people, in bathrooms, water fountains and public places, like the
scene that agent Ward goes talk to a black man, and everybody looks at him in a bitter way
because they were not supposed to be having any kind of contact (Alan Parker, Mississippi
Burning). In To Kill a Mockingbird segregation is obviously a strong theme and religion is used
to show it, they got their church, we got our'n. It is our church, ain't it, Miss Cal?" (Harper Lee
158), segregation in churches; even they belonging the same religion shows that racism was even
stronger than religion, the word nigger is used to show the discrimination, and repetitive small
acts like this happens throughout all the story, but nothing like any acts by KKK in Mississippi
Burning.
Racism is very strong since 30s as it is emphasized in To Kill a Mockingbird, and we
can notice that peoples thought havent changed until 30 years later, just like in Mississippi
Burning. Taking into consideration that the pieces are about the same theme and in different
decades, it is interesting to see how Harper Lee and Alan Parker, portrays it in different ways.
We can assume some hypothesis about why racism is represented differently; the intention of the
authors were different or maybe, racism and KKK actions were not so spread and strong around
1930. But the only ones that can tell us that, are the ones that lived in this ordinary time of war.