All Men Are Created Equal - To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

Note: It's easier to put on the video, which only has audio, and follow along with the text since it's especially long, but incredibly good. Unfortunately, there were no videos of the actual movie.


Atticus Finch: Gentlemen, I shall be brief, but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that the case of Mayella Ewell vs. Tom Robinson is not a difficult one. To begin with, this case should have never come to trial. The state of Alabama has not produced one iota of medical evidence that shows that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. This case is as simple as black and white. It requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant.

Miss Ewell did something that in our society is unspeakable: she is white, and she tempted a Negro. The defendant is not guilty, but someone in this courtroom is. I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake. She knew full well the enormity of her offense, but because her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking, she persisted. The state of Alabama has relied solely upon the testimony of two witnesses who's evidence has not only been called into serious question, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant.

I need not remind you of their appearance and conduct on the stand. They have presented themselves in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted. They were confident that you, the jury, would go along with the evil assumption that all Negro's lie, and are immoral. Mr. Robinson is accused of rape, when it was she who made the advances on him. He put his word against two white people's, and now he is on trial for no apparent reason- except that he is black.

Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal, a phrase that the government is fond of hurling at us. There is a tendency in this year of grace, 1935, for certain people to use that phrase out of context, to satisfy all conditions. We know that all men are not created equal in the sense that some people would have us believe. Some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they are born with it, some men have more money than others, and some people are more gifted than others.

But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal. An institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the ignorant man the equal of any president, and the stupid man the equal of Einstein. That institution is the court. But a court is only as sound as its jury, and the jury is only as sound as the men who make it up.

I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore the defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, gentlemen, believe Tom Robinson.

***

To Kill a Mockingbird is among my favorite books.  It's one of those stories you can come back to again and again and get something new out of it. The movie is of similar delight, as, correct me if I'm wrong, this speech is essentially lifted right out of Harper Lee's novel and put into the screenplay by Horton Foote.  Gregory Peck captures the very essence of Atticus Finch, who is perhaps my favorite character simply because he has kind of a mysterious aura to him; he's a man who's worked incredibly hard at doing the right thing.

The monologue I chose is from Atticus's closing argument, one of the most jaw-dropping, exciting, provoking, moving moments of the entire film. It helps if you read the entire monologue as if it were a letter or actually in the novel, in addition to listening Peck perform. 

Now, to some of us, the concepts of the speech seem foreign. Not all men are created equal? What's the big deal with a bi-racial couple?

There are so many things I could tackle or say about Atticus's speech, but I simply do not have the time, space or brain power at this moment in time. Here's what I can tell you: when I stumbled across this monologue, I knew instantly that I had to use it in some way, simply because I have diversity issues on the mind and this monologue was the first to relate in some way.

When I first read it, I was taken aback by his statements in the third to last paragraph.  He calls one of our favorite American phrases (all men are created equal), "a phrase that the government is fond of hurling at us." He claims that not everyone is equal, in the sense that not everyone has the same opportunities, skills, intelligence, etc. This is completely true. Depending on the circumstance, we aren't all equal...except in the court, in the eyes of the justice of our fellow man.

It is terrible to think that in 1935 a black man would be on trial because he "raped" her, when really the white woman was lying. I think that this happens frequently, even today, as we still have stigmas associated with African American men and violence. But what gets me is the lack of evidence on part of the prosecution. People believed that the white man's word was of more gravity than whatever evidence the defense could come up with.  The case was a done deal. Therefore, Atticus's notions are unspeakable, radical, crazy to the packed courthouse. 

There are many people who pass judgment before consuming all the facts. There are also many people who are apathetic, not caring about "these sorts of things," simply because it doesn't effect them. Big wake up call: what Atticus says is completely applicable to everyday situations, not just the court systems.

I admit, I'm not "multicultural" in any way. I haven't experienced real hate or discrimination in my life. I'm a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, religious person living in a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, religious place. But even though I'm like everyone else in appearance and are part of the majority, I realize how difficult it must be to be part of the minority in any place in the world/belief system.

The bottom line radiates respect. We need to have it for each other, all the time. Treating someone as a human being, despite what they've said, done, look like, where they go to school, whatever, is of the utmost importance. Just because someone isn't a carbon copy of you is no excuse to forget that they bleed red just like you.

Do I believe that we haven't made progress since 1935? Of course we've made progress. But especially in the place I live now, I feel as though I'm 30 years behind schedule. As Atticus says, "But a court is only as sound as its jury, and the jury is only as sound as the men who make it up." We are the jury every single day, living in our courts. And we have to possess the utmost compassion and understanding when making decisions on how we act, think, and speak.