Watched

To Kill a Mockingbird

countless times.

This time

it moved me

in ways

more deeply.

When you know the story already,

the details become

more striking.

The trees’ leaves

play a role.

Scout and her brother Jem

are out at night

quite a bit.

The black and white film

intensifies

 light, darkness and shadows.

Sometimes it is scary.

They call their father

Atticus.

When

Tom Robinson, a Negro

was standing trial

for raping

a young white girl,

Scout and Jem

ran to the courthouse

to watch the trial.

Sitting in the balcony

with the town’s Negros,

they listened to

Atticus giving an

impassioned defense.

“All men are created equal”.

Mockingbird

was published in 1960,

barely before

the civil rights movement

began.

Recent events,

the murder of 9 people

at a Bible study

in a Charleston church

have brought many people

together.

The Confederate flag

still a symbol of the Civil War and slavery,

is being taken down in many places

where it still resonates

with hatred.

Large retail businesses and manufacturers

will not sell these flags.

Pulitzer Prize writer

Harper Lee

has been in the news quite a lot.

The mysterious discovery of a manuscript

which may have been

her original version

taking place twenty years later,

will be published soon.

Go Set A Watchman

is preordered, events planned

many conjectures about its

origin and its history.

Before that story takes over,

read To Kill a Mockingbird

and watch the movie with deep attention.

It is my favorite movie and book.

It is real and true and

we are living later versions

of the basic story.

With justice

for all and

RESPECT

for all human beings.