“And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chaper 20. Atticus Finch in his closing argument to the jury about Tom Robinson, a hard-working field worker and family man. He stands accused of raping white woman Mayella Ewell. But he did nothing but help her out of compassion because he “felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ’em.”