50th Anniversary of "To Kill A Mockingbird"

Scout and Atticus Finch from the movie

I just found out about this in the opinion column of Ramon J. Farolan (REVEILLE/We-could-use-a-Truth-Commission) from yesterday's copy of the Inquirer which was an excellent read BTW.

I admit I've never read the book considered as one of the greatest American classics delving into the themes of racism and justice, but I have seen the film many years ago. It deserves recognition as well (it won an Oscar for the brilliance of Gregory Peck in the lead role). It is told from the eyes of a precocious 6-year old, "Scout" and of how her courageous father, lawyer "Atticus Finch", was faced with having to defend a "negro" accused of raping a white woman. One has to consider the setting for all of this which was in the 1930's in a southern state of America. It was a bad time in a bad place to be a black man as mob lynchings was common. It was author Harper Lee's first and only book.

I found a Youtube vid with the powerful words of Finch's defense in the movie. It centers on the citizen's final refuge, the court of law, where justice supposedly resides and where we all are equal regardless of what we are.