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I feel like a major component of white saviorism to gain respect from the community without risking anything. Atticus wrecked his standing in the white community, and put his own life at risk several times in solidarity with Tom.
Even if Atticus had won the case, he really only stood to lose out materially, and be ostracized from the whites.
That's a good point. But if you look outside the context of the novel itself, Atticus is written almost an archetypal example of a white savior, of a white person doing unquestionable good for the black community. It's like a way of saying, "here, look, not all white people are racist. Many of us are good!" If you decide to take Go Set a Watchman into account, it only gets more problematic. I'm just playing the devils advocate here, I've really liked To Kill a Mockingbird each time I read it.
Oh for sure. Obvi we can't veer off too far into the radlib territory of race-essentialism, so it would be worth reading something about what differentiates white saviorism from just good comrades.