Month: November 2016

Being thankful means being glad that something has happened or not happened, that something or someone exists.

I feel like I’m thankful for a lot of things and there is not only one thing that I can say. I’m thankful for my family (even though we argue). I’m thankful for my friends for being with me though everything in the past year or so. I’m thankful my family friends don’t have to suffer anymore (even though I miss them lots). And this list can go on and on forever.

But what I think I’m most thankful for is not  being where I was this time last year. I have grown as a person in the past year so much and I can only keep growing. Because things can only get better, right? I sure hope so.

Maycomb Tribune: Mr. Underwood

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s race is superior.

Recently, the town has been very uneasy with the upcoming trial but with Tom Robinson being moved to the Maycomb jail on Sunday morning the town’s uneasiness has only escalated. Today I will be recalling the events on Sunday night, the day before the trial.

With the blanket of anxiousness above the town, Atticus Finch decided to stay the night with his client at the jail. Sometime around 10 o’clock that night, four cars came in from the Meridian highway moving slowly in a line and stopping in front of the jailhouse. Men slowly got out of the cars and headed toward Atticus who was sitting in front of the jail reading the newspaper. The men were there to kill Robinson.

Tom Robinson has been charged with raping a white woman. The men believed that Tom’s offense was so unacceptable that they don’t believe he has the right to a trial.

Soon after then men approached Atticus, Jean Louise Finch (Atticus’s only daughter) came walking out of the shadows. She was followed by her brother, Jeremy Finch, and their friend Charles Baker “Dill” Harris. After Atticus had told the friends multiple times to go home and with them refusing, one of the men had become impatient from waiting and picked Jeremy up from his collar. Jean Louise was very upset from this and kicked the man.

After being told once more to go home, Jean started a casual conversation with one of the men, who could have been identified as Mr. Walter Cunningham Sr. Her conversation involved talking about his son Walter Cunningham Jr. and how she goes to school with him. The exchange was short but end with Jean saying “…that you all would right it out together…”.

The group of men ended up leaving with nothing happening.

If we can learn anything from this confrontation it is that, we can all learn to love a little more in our lives.

“It’s a great feeling, it’s an incredible feeling, to be a bit part of this,” Mr. Nelson said, “The film was hard to make, it was emotional to make, it was also an honor to make.” At his screenings, he urged audience members to send postcards to the attorney general of Mississippi, where Till was killed, calling for the case to be reopened. Its estimated that 10,000 postcards about the case had been sent out by people who attended his screenings. The film took over a year to make. It was an Emmy winning and Peabody Award winning film. Overall, Mr. Nelson was very pleased with the film.

The men only had nice things to say about each other. Mr. Beauchamp said, “I don’t want to talk bad about him – he knew I was working on this film. PBS turned me down many times; he’s a known documentarian. But I guess it was helpful that his film was done: it brought a lot of attention to this case.” Mr. Nelson said, “I’ve met him.” ,when he was asked about Mr. Beauchamp. The men seem to only have polite things to say about each other. Mr. Beauchamp did say, “It’s a competitive issue,” when speaking about Mr. Nelson. The men don’t seem to be best buds but the do seem to be kind to one another.

Mamie decided to leave the casket open at her son’s funeral so that the thousands that filed past could see what had been done to him. The 14-year-old black Chicagoan boy was beaten, shot, and thrown into a river in 1955. Famous pictures of Till’s mangled body were later posted in Jet magazine. Till was killed because he whistled at a white women in Money, Mississippi. This event was a flashpoint for the civil rights movement. Two white men were suspected to be the killers and were tried but were found not guilty. Nobody ever went to jail for the murder of Emmet Till.