By Emily Lewandowski • St. Joseph’s School

Our class recently finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird’by Harper Lee. We were astonished by the prejudice we encountered. We found some similarities between the mistreatment of blacks in the late 20’s and the recent treatment of local Somalis. Here is some of what we noticed:

Many whites are and were prejudiced toward blacks.

Many Somalis, and blacks from To Kill a Mockingbird, live in small houses or apartments in poverty

There are some notable positive differences:

Somalis are free to have any jobs for which they are qualified.

Most blacks in To Kill a Mockingbird could not go to school. Somalis are free to go to schools and colleges. There are even some scholarships to help them afford this.

I think that the Somalis would be treated more equally in today’s courts. Most juries would be impartial to skin color or place of birth. Somalis would be welcome to participate in mass, and true Catholics wouldn’t care. Most other religions would be accepting of them, too.