To Kill a Mockingbird at 50

Watched a very interesting show on BBC 4 last night, where author and critic Andrew Smith took a trip to Alabama to look for Harper Lee and places/characters involved in her brilliant book To Kill a Mockingbird. It reminded me what a great book it really was, and how I should read it again sometime.

One of the themes of the book is racism is the southern states. During the show, he interviewed an aged member of the Ku Klux Klan - what a freak, boasting about sending Christmas Cards with images of nooses on the front to young kids, and how he would be quite happy to kill a n****r if the circumstances dictated that he should. He said we were all racists, because all a racist was, was someone who took pride in his race or nation.

After the interview, the guy went off to a meeting in a taxi, driven by a black guy who was later interviewed by Smith briefly - he was asked whether he hated the guy he had given the lift to, who was by then fully dressed in ceremonial KKK garb. The driver, with great dignity, said that he didn't, because what would it serve if he did, and that that he didn't live every day with hatred in his heart.

I find it amazing that people like this imperial grand wizard of the KKK still exist, and equally amazing that there are folks around with the clarity of mind and kindness of spirit of that taxi driver.