Essay

       Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "I have a Dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judge by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character." He declared this in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Mr. King wanted the people to contemplate about the discrimination against African Americans. When racism was tested in the liberating story, The Secret Life Of Bee's, the outcome waved into uncharted waters. The protagonist, Lily Owens, in Sue Monk Kidd's novel, witnessed how pain and suffering was a common curtsey of racism in 1964.

      On Lily's journey she witnessed racism and how it injured someone close to her. In a act of racism a man criticized Rosaleen for being "A model citizen," (Page 31) on Rosaleens way to register to vote. Rosaleen attempted to stick up for herself but the men beat her up for trying. Lily felt distraught anyone could be so immature, naive, and racist to do so such a thing as physically abuse another. It pained Lily to see someone so close to her be verbally abused by ignorant men who are to blinded by skin colour to realize everyone deserves equal rights. Growing up with African American influence, Lily could recognize people for who they truly were and not for their skin colour. Lily soon acknowledged the injustice of racism even in the hand of law.

      Lily meet Mr. Gatson, one of South Carolina's police officers, and witnessed him being racist towards Rosaleen, which lead to catastrophe. The men who had beaten Rosaleen earlier came back for a little more action while she was in jail during Mr. Gatson's watch. Mr. Gatson is not a bad man but his silence towards the beating of Rosaleen conducted chaos. Lily was infuriated, noticing the lie in Mr. Gatson's eye when he explained that Rosaleen, “... took a fall and hit her head,” (Page 44). Lily hated living in a time when Men and Women just did not care about coloured people and how they were treated. Lily's character was mature in the sense she saw the finest in people no matter who they were. She may have been young and still had a lot of more learning to do but she was very accepting. Lily witnessed how even were laws were very strict and they were not to be bend, racism still occurred, resulting in abuse and misfortune.

      Zach was one of Lily's young African American friends, but just because of his youth did not mean racists would treat him lightly. At the movie theatre one of Zach's friends hollered, "You gotta be dumb as dirt to believe Jack Palance is coming to Tirbun,"(Page 178), to some mean men who were yelling at them. The Police arrived and took all they boys to jail after they threw a glass bottle. The men were not blamed or accused for disrupting the peace or starting the ruckus. Since the boys were African Americans everyone assumed it was their fault because in the 1960's they pinned the blame on African Americans. Lily witnessed a fair chance not be given to young boys because of the colour of their skin. Lily was devastated that Zach and his friends suffered in jail without a chance to explain themselves. Lily saw how racism lead to unfair assumptions and actions which caused the innocent to suffer.

    The Secret Life of Bees, showed that in the 1960's African Americans were treated differently just because of the colour of their skin. Lily witnessed how her African American friends were treated differently. Rosaleen, some one dear to Lilly, was treated badly and abused because of ignorant racist men. Even a police officer did not go to the aid of Rosaleen while she was being beaten. Zach another dear friend of Lily was thrown in jail because people were to blinded by his skin tone to see who truly was at fault. Lily hated witnessing racism towards African Americans, such as  her friends, which caused injustice and pain.