A hand went up in the back of the room. 'How can he do that?

'Who do what?' asked Miss Gates patiently.

'I mean how can Hitler just put a lot of folks in a pen like that, looks like the govamint'd stop him,' said the owner of the hand.

' Hitler is the government, 'said Miss Gates, and seizing an opportunity to make education dynamic, she went to the blackboard. She printed D E M O C R A C Y in large letters.' Democracy, 'she said. 'Does anybody has a definition?'

' Us, ' somebody said.

I raised my hand, remembering an old campaign slogan Atticus had once told me about.

' " Equal rights for all, special privileges for none! ", I quoted.

'Very good, Jean Louise, very good, Miss Gates smiled. In front of DEMOCRACY, she printed WE ARE A. ' Now class, say it together : " We are a democracy ".'

We said it. Then Miss gates said, ' That's the difference between America and Germany. We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship. Dictatorship. Dictatorship,' she said. ' Over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Pre-ju-dice, ' she enunciated carefully. 'The are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn't think so is a mystery to me.'

An inquiring soul in the middle of the room said , ' Why don't they like the Jews, you reckon, Miss Gates ?'

'I don't know, Henry. They contribute to every society they live in, and most of all, they are a deeply religious people . Hitler's trying to do away with religion, so maybe he doesnt like them for that reason.'

Cecil spoke up. 'Well I dont know for certain,' he said, ' they're supposed to change money or something', but that ain't no cause to persecute 'em.They're white, ain't they?'

Miss Gates said, ' When you get to high school, Cecil, you'll learn that the Jews have been persecuted since the beginning of history, even driven out of their own country.It's one of the most terrible stories in history.

........I said, ' I wanna ask you somethin' .'


' Shoot.' He put down his book and stretched his legs.

'Miss Gates is a nice lady, ain't she?

'Why sure,' said Jem. 'I liked her when I was in her room.'

'She hates Hitler a lot....'

'What's wrong with that?'

'Well, she went on today about how bad it was him treatin' the Jews like that. Jem, it's not right to persecute anybody, is it? I mean have mean thoughts about anybody, even, is it?

'Gracious no, Scout. What's eating you?'

'Well, coming out of the court-house that night Miss Gates was - she was going down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her - she was talking with Miss Stephanie Crawford. I heard it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home - ?'

Harper Lee left us a legacy. A legacy to jolt and impose awakening from the prejudices we perceived to be innocuous , that we may postulate behind our religious mask not very different from a Pharisee.

What do we want to do about that? That lost of conscience deemed right by our peers, our colleagues, our society at large? 'So what, everybody thinks like that?' attitude.

Not me.I will refuse to be a MISTAKE.

TO BE CONTINUED...