Miranda Fricker argues that, if an injustice is caused by possible outcomes, there is testimonial injustice. In this paper I will argue that systematic testimonial injustice shown throughout the book, To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. Specifically, I will examine systematic testimonial injustice and how detrimental it is to the epistemic goal of science, offering true accounts of the natural world. Testimonial injustices, that are connected with common prejudice, are termed systematic. According to Fricker, systematic testimonial injustice “are produced not by prejudice simpliciter, but specifically by those prejudices that “track” the subject through different dimensions of social activity.” (21) This “track” they put towards the subject can be from economic status, your education, career, sexual preferences/ orientation, political status, religion and so on. Being subject to this type of prejudice leaves a person to be naïve not only to testimonial injustice but to a range of other types of injustice.
The one type of prejudice that tracks people is prejudice relating to social identity. Social identity or identity prejudice can come in positive or negative forms. “For in such a case the influence of identity prejudice is a matter of one party or parties effectively controlling what another party does- preventing them, for instance, from conveying knowledge” (22). It’s individual identity prejudice that’s implicated in testimonial injustice. In the book To Kill a Mocking Bird Tom Robinson, is a twenty-five-year-old black and Mayella Ewell was a nineteen-year-old girl. Mayella, is a white southern girl however, the whole Ewell family is known as ugly, shiftless, and trashy; they even live by a dump. Tom went to go see Mayella, one day, because he felt bad for her. She always had to take care of younger siblings and was very alone much of the time. During their time together, Mayella kissed Tom. As this kiss occurred, Mayella father witnessed it and this made Tom run away. Tom, did not run away because he did something terrible.
He was a good kid and was happily married. But, when Mayella father saw the kiss, he beat Mayella up. Mayella was attacked shortly after this but many people saw Tom leave her house. This gave Mayella a great case to accuse Tom of rape. He did not want to be with her romantically but he was spotted leaving her house. Mayella Ewell took the stand as a lavishing young white girl, representing her southern womanhood. “A young girl walked to the witness stand. As she raised her hand and swore that the evidence she gave would be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help her God, she seemed somehow fragile-looking… (18.2). In order for the judge to convict Tom Robinson as guilty, she had to make the jury believe that she is an innocent, fragile, little girl, who is not interest in someone like Tom. Rather, than the jury seeing how desperate and lonely she is and how badly she desires Tom. Mayella also believed that in order for men to be brave heroes, they have to believe women are helpless victims in need of protection.
When Mayella accused Tom Robinson of rape, she was able to access the privilege of her southern womanhood; the protection of men. She was a daddy’s girl and looked for him for protection. However, her farther treated her very poorly and there was no respect between the relationship of father, daughter. Tom Robinson’s first appearance in trial was not ordinary. Other people in the courtroom gave their version of what happened before Tom even had the chance to speak. During the trial, we are offered two stories. The first story being Mayella and her father telling the story everyone wants to hear about Tom. The second story being Tom’s side, that no one wanted to hear, about Tom himself. Tom, again, feels sorry for Mayella, as one human being to another. But, all the court sees is a black man feeling sorry for a white woman. This made the jury and everyone else in the court room furious and they were not going to tolerate it. Tom also, does not have a left arm and has had this disability since birth. His disability should have been a huge eye opener for everyone in the courtroom, simply because it was clear that whoever did this horrible thing to Mayaella, led with his left hand. This should have automatically led Tom’s verdict to not guilty. Testimonial injustice occurred when the speaker suffered from credibility deficits due to identity prejudices on the part of the hearers.
A speaker suffers a credibility deficit when the credibility they are afforded by the hearers, is less than the evidence that they are offering the truth. In addition, identity prejudice is a prejudice against (or in favor of) an individuals or individual members of a social group. Identity prejudices can either be individual, as when one individual is prejudice against another due to their different social identity, or structural, collective resources or social structures go against certain individuals due to their social identity. However, Fricker’s view is individual prejudice that’s implicated in testimonial injustice. Who is the court going to believe? A black man raping a white woman or a disturbing story of a black man pitying a white woman? Of course, his verdict was guilty. His lawyer, Atticus, told Tom that he would have an appeal but, he would have to wait for the appeal in a local prison. This did not sit right with Tom. The thought of having to go through another trail was too much for him to bare. In addition, he could not seem to fathom why he was in jail for a crime he did not commit. He eventually escaped jail because he was already let down by the justice system and had absolutely no faith that an appeal would do him any good.
Furthermore, he was tired of white men deciding fate for him. While executing the escape “They shot him… he was running. It was during their exercise period. They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started to climb…” (235). So, during this escape, he was killed. Tom Robinson, in To Kill a Mockingbird is a perfect example of testimonial injustice. “Racial identity power is exercised in this way by members of the jury as they make their deflated credibility judgments of Tom Robinson, with the result that he is unable to convey to them the knowledge he has of what happened at the Ewelll’s place.” (22) The exercise of racial identity in that courtroom took Tom’s whole life away and basically ruined it forever. Racial prejudice affected the courtroom’s perception of the defendant. Robinson’s case, according to Fricker, is a “central case” of testimonial injustice. In addition, Fricker was also interested in stereotypes. Identity prejudice stereotype is marked by the resistance to counter-evidence on the part of its holder. This impedes the epistemic goals in science because of how race is affecting our perceptions. This occurs all the time and happens everywhere. Racial identity is never really taught to us as human beings, and rather it tends to be taught through our parents or friends or by certain experiences. This is a problem is today’s society because many people have certain racial views compared to others.
This can cloud our judgement to certain people and view them differently. In addition, if you were raised to not like a certain kind of person, then there is a good chance that you will always view this type of person this way. Racial identity causes heated arguments every day and just recently started to become a problem. In addition, places like court rooms are prone to racial identity. They see your skin color and already have some type of knowledge of you without even speaking to you. In addition, seeing your race may make the judge lean a different way. This is why jury citizens should remain unanimous and should not be affiliated with the defend or the prosecutor. To Kill a Mocking Bird shows what kind of racial identity we have in the world. Reading this book, you might not think this happens often but it does, every day. People of different colors get treated differently from people of non-color. In addition, racial identity can also effect people in the work place. Having a colored person in charge might make the company look bad or might make the company seem not as intelligent. People of color get discriminated all the time in the work force. Women especially. They have to work twice as hard to get to the same place a normal white person is at. As you can see, testimonial injustice is a big issue. Tom, should have easily been convicted as not-guilty but since he was in trial with a “fancy” white women the courtroom nor the jury cared about what he had to say. Identify prejudice played a crucial role in this book and shows how wrong racial prejudice is. In addition, Fricker individual identity prejudice is implicated.
