Mockingbird, part two: About White Guilt
It’s been brought to my attention some folks may feel like Atticus Finch is not a hero. Atticus is doing the “bare minimum” in defending Tom Robinson. Also, To Kill a Mockingbird is just a feel-good story for people with white guilt and is ultimately a racist story. We had a spirited debate which ended when I was unfollowed after some parting words. But it’s my page so I can add whatever comments I like. Here’s the whole mess… https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0Scyw3snHn1zBeiVPeKfteJwm4TmbngWDCR5yaECjQ1c1p7fXH13nsfDGceekCunbl&id=110126704730662
In my original post, I argued Atticus Finch is not a savior because he did not save Tom Robinson. He was doing his job, but he wasn’t exactly compelled to do it (the judge had simply asked him to do it) except by his own conscience and integrity. When Scout asked him the reason he was defending Tom Robinson when so many around town said he shouldn’t, he replied, “The main one is, if I didn’t, I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” Integrity. That only explains why he defended Tom. He wasn’t a hero for being Tom’s lawyer, he was a hero for putting his life and his reputation at risk for Tom especially when he faced down a lynch mob outside the jail where Tom was held. My definition of “bare minimum” is much less than this. He was a hero, but he had flaws. He was a fool for having faith in humanity, and it nearly cost him the lives of his children.
As for white guilt…I can’t help how I feel about the story any more than I can help being white. If I was a POC, maybe I’d feel differently about TKaM…I’ll never know, but I would hope that is not the case.
Looking at the story through a 2020s lens, yes, I can see how some people would consider it a racist story. It was about racism after all (in part). Maybe those folks don’t realize what racism looked like in the south in the 30s (when the story is set) and 50s (when it was published). Racism was rampant, and open, and accepted. Atticus Finch could not simply invoke the Civil Rights Act. All he could do was to appeal to the jury’s sense of justice and hope it was stronger than their racist ideals…sadly, it was not.
But what if Atticus had found a way to convince a racist jury that Tom Robinson was innocent. What if Tom had been set free and then Bob Ewell had been convicted for the assault on his daughter? First, it would need a different title. The story would then be a feel-good story about justice. It would say to the people of 1950s Alabama, “You all are pretty good people after all. Don’t worry about your silly racism…you’ll get it right in the end.” No, Tom Robinson had to be convicted and he had to die in the end if only to shine a light on the evil of racism.
Another of my favorites, Richard Wright’s Black Boy, was published in the 40s, but was written by a POC and from a POC’s perspective. I enjoyed it, but maybe only because it soothed my white guilt like TKaM? Would that mean I am incapable of having genuine positive feelings about any story dealing with racism? And would that make me emotionally disabled due to the lack of pigment in my skin? Am I incapable of overcoming my disability? Does my white guilt make my opinions about these novels invalid? Then these novels are only for marginalized people to enjoy? Maybe then TKaM doesn’t need to be completely banned…just banned for whites. Then libraries and bookstores could have shelves designated for black-people books. Or we could have black libraries and white libraries. And Asian libraries, Muslim libraries, Hispanic libraries.
Do you see we’re over-correcting? We’re headed back to segregation with these notions about race, white guilt, and white privilege. And we’ll never have an equal footing between us…we’ll never have an honest conversation.
I was a freshman at the University of Houston in 1989-1990. One day between classes I was eating lunch, or studying, or smoking outside the Science 1 building when a young black man approached me saying he had a survey he was conducting for a class…maybe Sociology, maybe Poli-Sci, I don’t remember. But I do remember the question he asked when I agreed to take his survey: Why are people reluctant to talk about race? And I remember I didn’t think about it long, just said the first thing that came to mind: “Because deep down, we’re all a little racist…and we don’t like to acknowledge it.”
Don’t we all feel a kinship with those of our own tribe? We should feel it with those from our own family…that’s literally what kinship means. But we extend that kinship to people who look like us, people who act like us, and people who think like us. We’ve done it since we were monkeys (if you believe in such), struggling to survive and instinctively knowing there’s safety in numbers. We do it today in vast numbers regarding any sort of conflict. Regardless of what’s right or wrong, it’s human nature…humans discriminate.
White folks aren’t the only ones, but they did a lot of discriminating throughout history. And as a part of that “tribe,” we feel guilty over their atrocities as though the evil gene is lodged in our DNA. It’s that nagging little thought in the back of your brain…”my ancestors did bad things.” It’s what we’ve all been taught. It’s what can’t be untaught. Or can it? What if…
I hereby disavow my whiteness! No longer am I white, caucasian, or redneck! I am no longer part of the tribe who once held others in slavery, or discriminated based on race, or committed atrocities. I have no race!
There. Now I can enjoy TKaM without guilt.
But why stop there? Race is not the only way we label one another. How many other books, movies, or stories can I feel guilty over? So… No longer am I male! Nor am I straight! I am not educated, I am not middle-class, I am not American, Texan, or Houstonian. I am not a professional. I am not a nerd! I am not fat! I am not bald! I have no eye color! I have no shoe size! I have no identity which could possibly differentiate me from any other human on the planet (and if aliens ever arrive, we’ll start over…or go to war with them).
Well, this is just silly, isn’t it? I can’t simply discard the labels that other people apply to my identity. I suppose I can change my own labels all I want, but they also exist in everyone else’s mind. And (as much as I wish I could) I cannot erase people’s minds. So, all my little labels stay where they are, and I will deal with them the best I can.
Can a simple point of my identity cause me to feel guilty over what white people did to black people before I was born? The answer: only if I let it. If I take personal responsibility for my own actions and for no one else, and if I’m not causing anyone harm (regardless of my race or theirs), I have no reason to feel guilty. And if you assign “white guilt” to me for enjoying this novel, I do not accept it. That is your burden, not mine. Shame on you for trying to make me feel bad about something that makes me feel good.
I don’t know, maybe I am too white to see it. I guess I’ll never know. I acknowledge racism was terrible and still exists today. We should fight racism wherever we find it, but TKaM is the choir you’re singing to. I refuse to ignore or attack a human act of goodness. Maybe it’s even as important to acknowledge the good things people do as well as evils. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the good things…even if I am evil in saying so.
-Big Steve