The Ohio Floods
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Shocking sky-view of the devastation |
Over 150,000 residents have ran from the city of Lousiville due to extreme flooding. Reports say that over half the city is submerged in water from the Ohio river, and that the water level is continuing to rise.
385 have been reported dead or missing thus far, and the government is checking in for 500 million dollars of property damage. Nation wide there have been 1 million people displaced.
These floodwaters have been an issue for 11 days now, the first flood warnings were sent out on the 10th of January but the Ohio river has continued to rise at worrying rates since then.
Worry over the flood waters has even reached as far south as Maycomb.
“If the floodwaters reach Maycomb we are doomed, me and my family don't have a house strong enough to keep back floodwaters and we don't have enough time to build dikes” said John Ewell, the oldest son and second oldest sibling of the Ewell family. Many worry that the Ohio´s raging waters will soon reach Alabama, and it does leave one to ask. Will the flood reach Maycomb?
Official reports say no. Although northen Tennessee has received some flooding the South has been left almost completely untouched and it is very unlikely that the water will go any father than that. Maycomb, unlike towns farther north, is safe from the devastation.
Alabama has been left completely untouched by this wrathful rainstorm , thank God for that.
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Maycomb Lynchings on The Rise
In recent times residents from around the county have been taking matters into their own hands and have decided to hang and torture suspected offenders. The victims of the lynchings are almost always Negro males. They corner suspects, humiliating them then killing them before the court has a chance to condemn them guilty or pardon them.
Many whites view this as form of justice. They believe that this way true justice can be dealt. "My son died at a black man´s hands. I´m sure of it. The court wasn`t ready to sentence him to death, but I knew it from the beginning. Me and a few of my friends gave him what he deserved.". Lynchers believe that what they are doing is right, and that the court system here in Maycomb isn't harsh enough on offenders, especially blacks.
First Purchase, along with other elements of the Negro community argue that these lynchings are purely racist, and that they have no basis in justice and redemption and more so in hate and cruelty. "Many of the men getting lynched have never done anything wrong in their lives. Church-going innocents with the worlds warmest hearts are being hung on the trees simply because they are Negro´s and people dont like them".
First Purchase may have a point. Some lynchings are almost random and it´s hard to know if all people who are lynched have even been accused of a crime, let alone are guilty of one.
This may be a pressing issue in Maycomb´s future.
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Obituary on Bob Ewell
In the past few years Bob Ewell had always lived as humble man, living with the rest of his large family near the city´s trash dump. He lived a rudimentary life with them, mainly keeping to himself and not bothering anyone. He was an honest man and no one had any problems with him. Although not that many people knew him, no one who did disliked him, he was a quiet type. The type that keep to themselves usually.
Then, his life was turned upside down. His oldest daughter, Mayella Ewell was raped by a Negro by the name of Tom Robinson(now deceased). He stayed strong, standing next to his daughter as she was cruelly forced to remember and recite what had happened that terrible night to the entire town. He stood tall and strong and was there for her, staying strong in the court room and keeping it together for his family.
His strength in front of the entire town will hopefully be what he is remembered for, because just recently he was found dead, his own knife in his stomach, his back propped up against an oak tree. No one really knows why he did it. All we can really do is remember the man he was and send help to his family, who will miss him dearly.
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Dear Editor,
I would like to ask you a sincere question, what happens in years from now? And no, I do not mean in five years or ten years or even twenty years. I mean in the future, way past us. Better put, what do they think about what is happening now? The Negro community is slowly gaining power. Up North they are nearly being treated as equals! What about in Europe, don´t they already frown down upon us for our more conservative ways?
When people look back at us, if the Negros have their way and are our equals, what will the world think of us? Will be ignorants imbeciles who upheld ancient unjust ways? Will we be scorned by the then modern-world?
Editor, what I`m saying is that do we seriously think that in years from now people will understand. I was grown as a proud white and already I hear people from the North saying we are all ignorant bigots. What is going to happen to us in the future? Will people look back at our culture with pride or will all else be blown away by the fact that our lifestyle was once based off something they completly disagree with. Will my great grandchildren not want to speak my name because I took part in lynchings?
Sincerely,
A proud white.
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Editorial: Maycombs Courts
Are our courts really fair? Our judges, yes, our lawyers, yes, of course. But the real question is, is the system as a whole fair to all people under God and this nation? Let me answer that for you, hell no. It doesn't take a genius to notice that blacks get convicted for any crime a hell lot easier than whites do. Is that because our judges trial them unfairly, probably not, they are trained to be fair to all peoples, regardless of race and line of work. Is this because of lawyers on the defense do not attempt to protect the Negro´s because they are racist? No, many lawyers like Atticus Finch fight viciously a losing battle in an attempt to save the possibly innocent men and women and give them a chance in court.
So if our judges and lawyers are all fair, what´s ruining the system? That is after all all a court really needs, isn't it?
Unfortunately, in this small town of Maycomb we have jury´s, and in those juries are racist whites who would rather die than to deem a Negro man innocent of any crime, regardless of it´s punishment and the obviousness of his innocence. They ruin the balance of our court systems by brining in race as a powerful factor into deciding whether or not the suspect should be guilty as charged.
Jury´s should be revised for KKK members or known lynchers, these men in such powerful places destroy Maycomb´s sense of justice.
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