Your honor, members of the jury, and citizens of Maycomb, Alabama. I stand before you today humbly asking you to not neglect the truth. To open your eyes and look past the facade that has sabotaged our progress for years. Based on what you all have seen and heard today, it is clear that the victim, Ms. Ewell, has been assaulted by a man in this courtroom. However, this man is not the defendant. Look around this courtroom. What’s the first thing that stands out to you? Notice the division in this community; us and the negroes. Within this dichotomy, more issues remain unresolved. Due to the values and attitudes the people of Maycomb uphold, we all know that you automatically categorize Tom Robinson as the suspect because he is a nigger.
More specifically, I hope the jurors understand that none of you are intentionally biased, you all are just conditioned to think and behave in such manner. You all have been taught that anyone who is different from you is the target. You all have forgotten that in most cases, the target lies in the group of one of your own. Although, this may seem like a difficult request, I strongly encourage you to take this into consideration I suggest that you all acknowledge the facts and neglect the current racial biases that you all succumb to at moments. Firstly, the defendant, Tom Robinson, did not commit this crime no matter how much you all suspect him of it. To emphasize, he is physically incapable and no black male or Nigger would jeopardize the miniscule entity that he claims as his life. Instead, I want you all to turn your eyes to Mr. Bob Ewell, a man known for his bellicose behavior while under the influence. It is not strange that Mr. Ewell becomes defensive when asked to complete a simple gesture in front of you all. Nor is it strange that Ms. Ewell cannot answer a question without glaring at her father (Bob Ewell) for approval.
As stated by Ms. Ewell. “I do not reckon that he [Tom Robinson] hit me.” After making eye contact with Mr. Ewell she proceeds to yell frantically, “I mean yes! He hit me, he hit me!” Even though the victim may be under extensive amounts of distress, it is no surprise that she changed her story. The objective is take the simplest way out which is convicting the black man. The victim’s and witness’ testimonies along with the lack of physical evidence should be more than enough for you all to come to an accurate verdict.
No matter how you all may feel towards the defendant and the victim, you cannot ignore the law. No one, even that of the African American race, can be convicted of a crime based solely on testimony and no evidence. The bible says, “Where there is no visions, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs, 29:18). On that note, by God, do your duty, you all deserve to be happy.
Works Cited
New American Standard Bible. “Morality and Redemption.” Knowing Jesus. 1991. Web. Date accessed [13 Sep 2017]
To Kill a Mockingbird. Robert Mulligan. Universal,1962. Web. September 2017
Well written. It’s interesting that you bring to light the subtle social cues that Mayella takes from her father during the trial, which are very telling.
I believe that your strongest and most effective appeal was the closing argument where you brought in the Bible to argue why the jury should not convict Tom Robinson. I think that the best way to ‘attack’ the mindset of the jury is to make them feel guilty, which, during the time, could only have been done outside of the issue of racism. To bring in religion and say that they are essentially not doing their duties as men of God is a great way to guilt them into it with reason that they hopefully would believe.
While I would certainly agree with you, I lean to the side of guilty in the mindset of the jury. This isn’t because there wasn’t logic or a well constructed argument that proves his innocence, but it’s because a lot of what was said just isn’t enough to change the mindset they have at the time. It took roughly 30 years, the federal government, and the most influential court cases of all time to change these types of rulings and yet the same people in the south that would’ve been a part of this jury are likely to still believe that black people are lesser than white people today. I feel like too much of your argument was based on the bashing on Bob Ewell in order to raise up the value of Tom’s testimony, which wouldn’t have worked at the time. To be fair, we probably all did the same thing, I just believe it’s essentially a jury we can’t win over under the circumstances.