She kissed a black man.

Not an old uncle,

but a strong, young Negro man.

No code mattered to her before she broke it,

but it came crashing down on her afterwards.

The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County.

have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court...

in the cynical confidence...

that their testimony would not be doubted.

Confident that you gentlemen would go along with them...

on the assumption--

the evil assumption--

that all Negroes lie,

all Negroes are basically immoral beings,

all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.

An assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber,

and which is, in itself, gentlemen, a lie,

which l do not need to point out to you.

And so,

a quiet, humble, respectable Negro,

who has had the unmitigated temerity...

to feel sorry for a white woman,

has had to put his word against two white people's.

The defendant is not guilty,

but somebody in this courtroom is.

Now, gentlemen,

in this country,

our courts are the great levelers.

ln our courts,

all men are created equal.

l'm no idealist to believe firmly...

in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system.

That's no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality !