Licked

“We were licked a hundred years before we started.” I think Atticus meant that they are already in a disadvantage that it seems like an impossible mission to defend Tom Robinson. Since the creation of the nation, African Americans are discriminated even after the Civil war ended. In a case of sexual assault, it seems impossible for Atticus to win the case for Tom. Unless there is an alibi or a clear evidence that Tom couldn’t have committed the crime, Tom will never win the case. Even if Tom is innocent, the prosecution will probably use witnesses’ and the victim’s biases testimony to convict him. I think Atticus is a courageous man who takes this impossible case in defending his honor as a lawyer and a man. He hopes to defend his moral rightness and proves this poor man’s innocence. In my opinion, the accuser of the case is probably just paranoid to accuse Tom just because he is a black man. Probably the accuser tries to cover up her own adultery by using Tom as a distraction to the public. If I were Atticus, I probably would do the same thing as Atticus, trying to prove someone’s innocent despite being called a traitor to defend a person who has a different r ace from me.