I am thankful for many things, one of which would be my family.  They are always here for me and support me though they may get on my nerves at time (a lot) but hey that’s to be expected.  I’m also thankful my friends for putting up with me.  I can’t forget all of the other things that I very thankful for such as; Air conditioning, indoor plumbing, fuzzy socks, music, rainy days, puppies, mascara, chocolate, really soft blankets, toilet paper, pie, bubble wrap, gloves that you can text with, snow, smelling all the candles at the store, spontaneous road trips, really cute baby goats, chap stick, cream soda, headphones, getting complements from strangers, really long phone chargers, sunsets, good friends, peaches, ice cream, sun shine, bonding over similar music taste and many other things that make life a littler bit better, we really have so much to be thankful for.

Racial prejudice is wrong, and all too common in the south.  Though the civil war was long ago we are still divided by deep rooted racism.  We ignore the justice system and constantly based rulings on race, not evidence.  Racism is so bad that mobs of men will “take justice into their own hands,” by skipping the jury and judge and killing them based on accusations.

On Sunday morning Tom Robinson an African American accused of raping a white girl was moved to Maycomb jail.  Sunday night Atticus Finch was reading outside of the jail and I across the way on the second floor with a gun because we had a sneaking suspicion that there will be trouble.  When a mob of men pulled up and moved towards the door.  You could smell the whiskey on their breath.  One of the men asked if Tom Robinson was in the jail and Mr. Finch answered “He is”

“You know what we want.  Get aside from the door Mr. Finch,” said another man.

Then Mr. Finches daughter Scout came running in “Hey, Atticus!” she yelled nervously.  Her brother Jem and friend Dill following behind her.  Atticus put the paper down insisted that Jem should take Scout and Dill home.  Jem stood still.

“Son I said go home.”  Jem shook his head.  Then one of the men grabbed Jem aggressively by the collar, almost knocking him off his feet.

“Don’t you touch him!” screamed the girl as she kicked him in the crotch.  The man buckled over in pain.

“Don’t kick folks.  No—“Atticus said

“Ain’t nobody gonna do Jem that way,” said Scout

“All right Mr. Finch, get ‘em outa here!  You’ve got fifteen seconds to get ‘em out of here.” Yelled one of the men

But Jem still didn’t budge.  Scout started talking to one of the men that she recognized.  She reminded him that Atticus was his friend and that he had helped him before.  Somehow she talked him out of trying to kill Tom Robison and letting him have a fair trial, letting him know that it wasn’t worth it to go through Atticus.  These acts are too common and should be stopped, we can’t let racism run wild like this.

Mr. Underwood

Both Keith Beauchamp and Stanley Nelson played huge roles in the reopening of the Emmett Till murder trial by showing their movies and spreading the word about Emmett Till and his tragic horrible death. Stanley helped and urged the public to write letters about the trial and Keith talked to law enforcement officers and politicians like Senator Charles E. Schumer and Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrats of New York about reopening the trial.  Without them the trial might have not reopened.

Mamie Mobley’s controversial disision about Emmetts funeral was to give him an open casket to show the brutality that came from deeply rooted racism in the south.  She thought it was best for people to see what was happening so they could do something about it  and become more aware of it.  Lots of people thought that this extreme racism died with slavery so long ago.

     Mrs. Mobley said “Keith, you’re about to grab a rattlesnake by the tail.”  To Keith Beauchamp when he started researching the murder of Emmett Till.  What she meant was that this trial would be hard and very contreversal, not something that would come easily unfortunately.

My first crush was this little boy who went to my preschool I forget his name but I remember that we would race eachother on the tricycles always sneak out extra snacks out after snack time (I felt like such a rebel) and we would eat them in the reading nook together.  One day I decided to kiss him as soon as I did I ran away and cried and cried and cried because I felt like such a bad kid.  When my mom found me crying and I told her what happened.  After that we would chase each other around and ride the teeter totter together and swing.  Sometimes we would sneak a handhold, because we thought that that was so rebellious.  I haven’t seen him since preschool and I can’t even remember his name but he will always be my first crush and my big preschool act of rebellion.