What leads to segregation?

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, learned racism pushes the citizens of Maycomb to believe crazy thoughts. They wrongly convict Tom Robinson of raping Mayella Ewell because their minds have been conditioned to believe that all black men commit horrifying crimes such as these. Moreover, these racist ideas lead them to do horrible things. For example, a gang of drunken white men goes to lynch Tom in the middle of the night, just days before his trial. They believe that he is inherently despicable due to the colour of his skin. In the poem Caged Bird, apparent ignorance leads to the segregation of the birds. The free bird does not know how fortunate he is, living free to do what he wishes. The caged bird does not know what he is missing, but longs for it nevertheless. They are separated for reasons that they don’t know. Both of these stories tell of segregation but by different means and for different reasons.

I chose this photo because it represents the separation that comes from being different. We are, truly, all the same, but different choices make us different.