In Harper Lee's Go Set A Watchman, set twenty years after To Kill A Mockingbird, Jean Louise Finch (formerly Scout), now in her late 20s, tells us that her father Atticus is a racist. Atticus Finch a racist! The most famous lawyer the US has ever produced! This will lead to much soul searching and reassessment of his character. Plus a search for clues in Mockingbird.
The late Monroe Freedman did not need the testimony of Atticus's daughter for this news. He saw the clues in Mockingbird way back. In several articles over the years he called Atticus out for his hypocrisy and racial insensitivity. I don't think he actually leveled a charge of racism however.
For example, in the Alabama Law Review in 1994 he wrote:
"Throughout his relatively comfortable and pleasant life in Maycomb, Atticus Finch knows about the grinding, ever-present humiliation and degradation of the black people of Maycomb; he tolerates it; and sometimes he even trivializes and condones it. Nor does Finch need the presentism of a Northern liberal six decades later to tell him that these things are wrong. He himself accurately diagnoses “Maycomb's usual disease ... reasonable people go ing stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up.” “ It's all adding up,” he recognizes, “and one of these days we're going to pay the bill for it.” But he hopes that the struggle for justice won't come during his children's lifetimes. For Finch, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is inevitable, but decades too soon."
If Monroe were still with us, he would rightly be reminding us that he always had his doubts about Atticus and had maintained his position despite much hostile reaction to his assault on Atticus's character. But Monroe is not with us. So I thought it proper for us to recognize what is surely a claim to vindication.
Of course, Jean Louise's charge may also be a phenomenon that we all can appreciate. The parents who are your heroes when your 8, may be seen as morally compromised when you're 28.
One thing for sure: Atticus needs a libel lawyer.