TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Author: Harper Lee
Year: 2010 (1960)
Publisher: Albert Bonniers Förlag
Language: Swedish (Translator Jadwiga P. Westrup)

99 years ago, 19-year-old Dick Rowland was shining shoes in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. As an African-American, the only lavatory available to him, according to the law of the land in 1921, was at the top of the nearby Drexel building. The lift was operated by 17-year-old Sarah Page; a white girl. Upon entering the lift, Dick tripped. To break his fall, he instinctively grabbed on to Sarah’s arm accidentally tearing part of her sleeve. He was promptly arrested for attempted rape. The headline in The Tulsa Tribune on the next day read ”Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator”.

This triggered the most violent assault on the black community ever perpetrated on US soil. For 16 hours during the night between the 31^st of May and 1^st of June, white mobs, supported by the local government, including U.S. aircraft, wreaked havoc on the black district of Tulsa. Houses were razed, fires started, bombs dropped from the air, people maimed in the street. The Tulsa Tribune reported 176 dead. Today it is known as “The Tulsa Massacre”.

I have no idea if Harper Lee knew about the Tulsa Massacre when she wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Dödssynden” (“To Kill a Mockingbird”) but growing up in the 30s and 40s in Alabama, she certainly must have had ample opportunity to study racial divide and the oppression of black people.  In many ways, the events in 1921 bear a lot of resemblance to Lee’s story. There is the segregated community, the black man wrongly accused of rape, the assumption of guilt based on skin colour, the dreadful consequences, and the ensuing feeling of shame.

    

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a highly recommendable read. For starters, it is brimming with attractive characters, scenery, intriguing plots and subplots, and it is well written with a stable pace and solid dialogue. But that is all merely fine craftsmanship. The genius of this novel lies on a different level.

The true power of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is derived from how immersive it is. Lee is in no hurry to skip past seemingly irrelevant scenes which serve the purpose of subtly setting the scene. The reader is invited into the idyllic and carefree world of 9-year-old Scout Finch and her elder brother Jem. We learn about their hometown, Maycomb, Alabama, and about its citizens who are just as diverse and complex as people are in general. Scout and Jem like some of them more than others, as is natural, but they are all, in their own way, decent folks.

One of them is Scout’s and Jem’s father Atticus Finch; a local barrister who will soon be appointed as the accused Tom Robinson’s public defender. He is a balanced, principled, and fair man who works too much and who sometimes allows Scout and Jem more freedom than they would like.

What I find so ingenious about this angle is that in the first half of the book, with all their weaknesses and faults, most citizens of Maycomb seem likeable and, for lack of a better word; good.

Yet when the crisis hits and their characters are tested, they change. Some of those who used to smile and joke, now show up on the doorstep carrying torches and pitchforks. Others, who used to curse and cause trouble, stand up to the trouble-makers. The majority, hunker down and try to come up with excuses why not to take a stand. Those who fret about how the German Nazis treat the Jews and applaud the missionary work to help the Mruna people in Africa are unable to translate their indignation to the reality of their own neighbourhood. Scout and Jem change, too. Jem becomes angry and relentless in his judgment of his fellow Maycombians. Scout’s mind changes from that of a happy-go-lucky little girl to that of an initially confused but increasingly determined young woman.

The only person who remains unfazed by the commotion is Atticus Finch. One of the Finch-family’s neighbours, Maudie, at one point in the book says that Atticus is unique by being the same person in the courthouse as he is in the street. True to that, while fighting vehemently for the rights of his wrongly accused client, he is able to predict his defeat despite overwhelming evidence in his favour. He knows the hearts and souls of the Alabamians all too well to hope that they will put their racism aside to provide justice to an innocent black man against the word of a lying white woman. He knows, but he takes up the fight anyway. In him, Harper Lee gives us a role model. She shows us that no matter how good we think we are, we need to stay true to ourselves when the world around us crumbles and everybody else turns. Atticus Finch is the epitome of the saying “not all heroes wear a cape.” By this, Lee compels us to speak up and not remain silent, even when we are in the minority. Even if we are sure to lose the battle. It is a powerful message of moral courage.

It is imperative that we recognise, that this book is not a history lesson. Racism and bigotry are not things of the past. In the last few days, we have seen the public outcry around the western world about yet another atrocity committed against a black person in the US. Protests and violence follow. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is not about the 1930s. It is not about an era at all. It is about a mindset that transcends generations and which is still very much present in this day and age.

So... what of Dick Rowland? Since Sarah refused to press charges, he was eventually exonerated and immediately left Tulsa to settle in Kansas City. No crime had apparently been perpetrated. Still, the Tulsa Massacre happened.

On the 99^th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre, the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C. commanded the police to clear the Black Lives Matter demonstration outside his window so that he could cross the street to a nearby church to have propaganda photos taken wielding a Bible in his hand.

I pray that the 100^th anniversary will be presided over by a more worthy American. Atticus Finch's work is not nearly done.