What are some quotes about racism from To Kill a Mockingbird?

In
,tries to instructin processing the derogatory terms she's been hearing people use to describe
her father:

"Scout," said Atticus,
"nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anythinglike snot-nose. It's hard
to explainignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and
above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a
common, ugly term to label somebody."

"You aren't really a
nigger-lover, then, are you?"

"I certainly am. I do my best to love
everybody ... I'm hard put, sometimesbaby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody
thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt
you."

Atticus's explanation is forthright and
honest. He explains what types of people use these types of terms and how those sorts of labels
become part of a common dialogue. Scout understands that people are using this term to insult
her father, so she tries to clarify by clearing him of the label. Atticus's reply reinforces to
his daughter that he loves people regardless of race and urges her not to care what kinds of
labels people affix to her when she is doing the right thing. Derogatory, racist insults reflect
on the speaker, not the recipient.

In ,and Scout are trying to figure out (in
their childhood innocence) how race is determined:

"Well how do you know we ain't Negroes?"

"Uncle Jack
Finch says we really don't know. He says as far as he can trace back the Finches we ain't, but
for all he knows we mighta come straight out of Ethiopia durin' the Old
Testament."

"Well if we came out durin' the Old Testament it's too
long ago to matter."

"That's what I thought," said Jem,
"but around here once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all
black."

They pose a great question, particularly in
the great melting pot that is America. Which race is the race that
people claim when any person in America must have ancestors from a variety of races and
backgrounds? They do see a core truth in Maycomb: If any part of a person's ancestry can be
traced to African Americans, that is all that matters.

In , Atticus tries to
summarize Mayella's ultimate crimes (which her father absolutely could not tolerate):

She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in
our society is unspeakable: 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.

Mayella, a white woman in a racist Southern
town, made advances toward a black man. She crossed an unspoken line with severe social
consequences. Her father concocts incredible lies to accuse Tom of raping her, and the town is
willing to convict him even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the
contrary.