Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird is my all-time favorite novel. The lessons it teaches about prejudice and injustice in America are profound. They have shaped my political beliefs and idea of what justice is and what it is not.
In Lee's novel, a clearly innocent black man, Tom Robinson, is unjustly convicted by all-white jury members that are blind to their own racism. In a few days, it is expected that enough all-white Republican members of the United States Senate, equally blind to their own racism, will acquit a clearly guilty, racist, former president, Donald J. Trump.
The parallels between the injustices in both the novel and expected acquittal have led me to rewrite Atticus Finch's summation to the jury in defense of Tom Robinson found in To Kill A Mockingbird for use as an appropriate summation by the impeachment managers to the U.S. Senate for the conviction of Donald J. Trump.
In anticipation of the defense's most likely argument and expected acquittal of the former president at the end of his second impeachment trial, I have taken the liberty of borrowing and rewriting selected sections of Atticus Finch's summation to Tom Robinson's jury in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird for the impeachment managers to use as a model.
The defenders of the former president, with the exception of six senators, have presented themselves to the American people, to this impeachment tribunal, in the cynical confidence that their lies would not be doubted, confident that a majority of Republican senators would go along with them on the assumption—the evil assumption—that all Democrats lie, that all Democrats are basically immoral beings, that all Democrats are not fit to hold positions of political power, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber.
Which, my fellow Americans, we know is in itself a lie as obvious as those told by the former president and the right-wing talking heads who support him and spread his lies. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Democrats lie, some Democrats are immoral, some Democrats are not fit to hold positions of political power. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular political party. There is not a person in this chamber who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no person living who has never been tempted to put self-interest over duty. But there is one person not present here who built his entire career, including his recent, four-year term as president, on lies, immorality and self-interest.
I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the wisdom of the framers of The Constitution and the impeachment process it contains— that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Senators, an impeachment tribunal is no better than each one of you sitting before me in this chamber. A trial is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the people who make it up. The Constitution to which each of you swore an oath tasks you with reviewing without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and convict Donald J. Trump. In the name of God, do your duty.
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This is the text of Atticus Finch's summation in To Kill A Mockingbird which I rewrote for the impeachment managers:
“And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s. I need not remind you of their appearance and conduct on the stand—you saw them for yourselves. The witnesses for the state, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption—the evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber.
“Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women— black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.”…
…“I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system— that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a 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 this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty.”
