Paul Davis: Harper Lee’s words not heard enough

I sat through a play last Tuesday night which was based on Harper Lee’s classic book, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It was an admirable production presented by the Montana Repertory Theater as part of the wonderful series of performances brought to the community by the Arts Association of East Alabama.

It was the umpteenth time I had seen the play, or watched the movie or read the book. It still slams in the gut. Harper Lee, who still lives in Monroeville in south Alabama, weaves a story about racism in America which in many ways tears at the soul of America. You know it; I know it and Harper Lee did, too. She lived it.

She talks about a time long ago when a black man, wrongfully accused of the rape of a white girl, was stoutly defended by a gallant white lawyer, and found guilty. While trying to run from the law he was gunned down by angry whites.

She hammered away on her Underwood typewriter for more than two years as she spun her novel about race in the south. She once threw her manuscript out the window and into the snow, thinking her words unworthy of publication.

Wow, was she wrong. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her work that detailed life in the 1930s when she was just 10 years old. One critic not too many years ago said: “In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism.”

The play last week in Opelika attracted the largest crowd I have ever seen in the Performing Arts Center. Whites and blacks. All seeking to listen, learn and understand why we still struggle to find a way to comfortably live with the issue of race and racial hatred.

The Internet today is filled with racism, religious intolerance and just downright nasty politics. We still have nuts suing to prove the stupid notion that Barack Obama is not our real president because, they claim, he was not born in the United States. Those folks don’t want him to be president because he’s black. You know it, I know it and Harper Lee, bless her soul, knows it, too.

Lee said things that were not to be said in the 30s. She said things some say should not be said today. The book is widely taught in schools with debates that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Some places have sought to have the book removed from public classrooms. It has its share of racial epithets and those epithets were heard from the stage Tuesday. They sounded especially harsh in this day and time.

She must now be pushing 85. Last time I checked, her 90ish sister was still practicing law in Monroeville. I have meet the gentle lady twice, but she doesn’t talk much, doesn’t give interviews and has never written another book – unless maybe she has a surprise or two tucked away.

She’s known around the world, but she’s still one of us. She studied at Huntingdon in Montgomery, went on to the University of Alabama, wrote for the Rammer Jammer Magazine, added in a few poems and short stories.

Maybe she’s said enough. Her words continue over the decades as she cries out of peace and harmony, tolerance and an end to racism. Millions have listened, some have learned, yet others seem mired in another time and place, seemingly ready and willing to “Kill a Mockingbird.”

Paul Davis writes a Sunday column for the Opelika-Auburn News. You may contact him at