More Harper Lee and Grandma Allen, Less Newt Gingrich

I am sure there is a rule among those who provide news commentary against including an apology as part of the introduction of a topic. I am going to ignore it, because today’s rant is the result of my spending more time looking backward in recent weeks than looking forward, another thing so-called pundits are not supposed to do. So, I am sorry if my thoughts here seem off-track or even more disjointed than usual.

This all started when my daughter set her sights on playing the role of Scout in the Des Moines Playhouse production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She read Harper Lee’s great novel. I then re-read it for the first time since ninth grade. There were numerous family discussions over dinner about what each of our kids liked and did not about the story. Add to this the scrapbook of late 1800’s and early 1900’s family items my mom entrusted to me over the weekend and it is easy to see why I have been thinking about what has and hasn’t changed in America.

Gregory Peck, as Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird"  

The role of fictional lawyer and father Atticus Finch in Mockingbird has been described by many an actor as one of the few great roles. I suspect those of us who remain entranced by the novel after all of these years feel a connection to Atticus for many of the same reasons Gregory Peck and George Clooney do. We relate to Atticus not because he is an image of perfection, but because he is anything but. Atticus, with all of his flaws – his reluctant advocacy for Tom Robinson, his questionable bending of the law to protect Boo Radley, his less-than-ideal relationship with his children, Jem and Scout – is somebody we admire because he shows us it is possible for a person to become who he wants to be despite his shortcomings.

I was thinking about Atticus Finch’s fictional 1930’s Maycomb County, Alabama when I stumbled across an actual 1898 Cincinnati Commercial Tribune article in the family scrapbook. The paper reported on the 97th birthday celebration Mrs. Maria Soundes Allen hosted for herself at her home in Elyria, Ohio “at which she received the congratulations of 50 friends without either fatigue or embarrassment.”

According to the story, “Grandma Allen,” as she was known, sent five sons to fight in the Civil War and “then dried her tears to bend her energies to scraping lint, making bandages, bedding, jellies, and wine; in brief, everything in her power for the comfort of the boys who stood by the flag and upheld the union.” I tried to imagine her party as she “entertained her guests, not with frivolous chat, but with a vigorous discussion on the Philippine controversy, the beef scandal and other events of popular interest.” She must have been something.

This is why Atticus and Grandma Allen were on my mind earlier this week when I heard Newt Gingrich make this disconcerting statement, “Our religions, I think we need to have a government that respects our religions. I’m tired of being lectured about respecting every other religion on the planet. I want them to respect our religions.”

In Mockingbird, Scout asks Atticus why he is defending Tom Robinson even though everybody in town says he shouldn’t. Atticus tells her “before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t live by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

My conscience tells me a statement like Mr. Gingrich’s should not go unchallenged.

Harper Lee created Atticus to help us understand there is no “us and them.” “Our” religion is no more worthy of respect than anyone else’s, just as “our” race is no more deserving than another.

Grandma Allen was concerned about making the world a better place until her final day. I have little doubt Grandma Allen had her shortcomings like this Atticus fan does, but I would like to believe Grandma Allen would be disappointed a leading contender for the presidency thinks erecting a wall of division is a winning strategy in 2012.

Harper Lee wrote, “Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they’re not attracting attention with it.” And, divisive political speech is the worst kind of language. Yet, we have yet to outgrow it in America. Voters should stop rewarding candidates who use it. No candidate for public office, let alone for president, should be allowed to drive a wedge between us even with a throwaway line to coddle a few votes in a single speech.

Maria Allen and Harper Lee continue to teach us we are not great because we are a people who are similar. Our strength, our beauty and our greatness come from our diversity.

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Shameless plug: To Kill A Mockingbird continues at the Des Moines Playhouse through February 12 with a fantastic actress I know who shares the role of Scout every other performance. For a story about the 50th anniversary of the film version click here.



Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com


This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.