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In Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, what is so hypocritical about the discussion of the J. Grimes Everett at the time?

One afternoon, Aunt Alexandra hosted a social with refreshments for the missionary circle.  Scout listened to "Mrs. Grace Merriweather giving a report in the livingroom on the squalid lives of the Mrunas" (To Kill a Mockingbird, chapter 24).  The Mrunas were an African tribe.  Mrs. Merriweather spoke with emotion about the poor conditions of the Mrunas, and noted that no white person, except for the missionary J. Grimes Everett, would help them.  She acknowledged his compassion and called him saintly.


Despite Mrs. Merriweather's praise for Mr. Everett, she did not seek to help the African Americans in her own community.  She spoke positively about Mr. Everett helping the Africans in poverty, and yet she and the other ladies in the missionary circle ignored the poverty in Maycomb.  She was more concerned about the work of a man on the other side of the world than about those living in the community.  This was also after the trial, where the cards were stacked against Tom Robinson because it was his word against the word of a white woman.


Mrs. Merriweather even complained about "a sulky darky."  She spoke in a degrading way about the African Americans living in Maycomb.  She behaved in a superior way.

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