And Still I Rise

A few days back I saw on CNN home page a news item which spoke of the death of actor Brock Peters.The name meant nothing to me so I didn't even click on it.Much later,to my embarrassment I realised Brock Peters was none other than the actor who played Tom Robinson in the film adaptation of Harper Lee's masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird.

NY Times had this to say "A towering figure, with a rich, booming voice, he provided backing vocals for Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat Song (Day-O) and played the Star Wars villain Darth Vader on radio. But he could display dignity as readily as menace: when asked by the defence lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) if he raped the girl in To Kill a Mockingbird he delivered the line “I did not, sir”, with tears in his eyes. There was enough integrity and suppressed anger to convince of his innocence and elicit sympathy at his plight and the injustices prevalent in Alabama in the 1930s, when the story was set."And to think after watching that movie(countless times)and his stirring portrayal I still never took time to find out his name.

Mockingbird has always been a favourite of mine for the way it looks at prejudice,racism, conscience,coming of age, all seen through the eyes of a child.For me the biggest lesson of that book is tolerance and Scout summed it up best with this quote."Atticus was right.One time he said you really never know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."

# posted by Abeni @ 8:22 AM