"Witness" Argumentative Essay

In the story, "Witness" by Karen Hesse, there is a mass amount of racism that goes on in the story. The civil rights movement was a popular movement that helped give African Americans equal rights and opportunities like white people. There are many ways this can be proven in the story. I argue that a lot of racism goes on in the story, however, at the end people start to treat each other equally. It's not just whites being racist towards blacks, it's the other way around as well. There are also some people who are neutral in the story. Many things like the people's racist attitudes towards black people, people's racist attitudes towards white people, and people who won't pick a side show that racism plays a big role in the story.

White people in the story had a very poor attitude towards black people. One example of white people being racist towards blacks, in the beginning of the story, …show more content…
For example, Constable Johnson didn't help Leonora's mom when it was cold outside and she was sick because he didn't want to pick a side, meaning Leonora's mom or the white people who hate black people. He said "don't blame me, the roads were bad" (Witness pg.8). Constable Johnson's views never changed throughout the story. Reynard Alexander, the newspaper editor, was neutral because he wanted to write the truth when it came to the two races. The Klan wanted him to lie when he wrote the newspaper but he didn't because he knew it would be wrong. If he was racist, he would probably pick the Klan's side but he doesn't. Another character who was neutral was Fitzgerald Flitt. Fitzgerald Flitt was the doctor. He was neutral in the story because he helped all patients, not just one race in particular. He told Leonora's mom that she should go to a sanatorium so she could get better. Therefore, he doesn't pick a certain side and he is also not a part of the Klan, showing that he is neutral in the