Scouts dad was asked to defend a black man in court. his name was tom robinson, and he was accused of raping a white woman. it is a very tricky case that he probably can't defeat, but he tells scout that he must take tom robinson to show his sense of justice. in the book it says, ¨"simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.¨ it is usually a bad thing for a white man to defend a black man in court, but attuicus wants to change that, and just do his job.