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Another situation that Richard had to cope with racism was when he worked in
a clothing store. He saw his boss and his bosses son beat a black woman half to
death. He didn’t have much options but to sit there and continue doing his job.
When Richard witnessed this he was outside on the sidewalk. “ I watched out of
the corner of my eyes, but I never slackened the strokes of my chamois upon the
brass” (212), he described. He thought it was right to sit their and not act on
anything that was happening. After a few minutes later the lady stumbled out of
the store, only to be accused of being drunk by a white police man who witnessed
the whole thing. Richard walked in side and saw blood, hair and pieces of
clothing on the ground. “ My face must have reflected my shock, for the boss
slapped me reassuringly on the back” (213), he thought to himself. The boss
handed Richard a cigarette and he excepted. This saying that if you keep your
mouth shut and act like a black boy is suppose to then nothing will happen to
you and you might even get rewarded.
In one particular situation Richard was
backed into a corner. It occurred when he was working for a black Yankee in an
optical factory. Richard had these two co-workers, Pease and Reynolds who
accused him of calling Mr. Pease, Pease. This was a battle that Richard could
not win. If he confessed and said yes he did call Mr. Pease, Pease. Then he
would be in a lot of trouble. If he denied it, that was even worse. That would
mean that he was calling them Liars. Reynolds told Richard, “ You can’t call a
white man a liar and get away with it” (225). Richard had no only one way of
getting out of this mess, and it was to leave his job and go up north. He was
scared for his life so he had no other choice. This tell’s you that back during
the Jim Crow era, if you have white enemies then you are in some serious
trouble. Richards way of coping with racism was different then other people’s
because Richard is more independent. Richard’s way of coping with racism was to
act nice and respectful towards whites. On the other hand, he also thinks that
he should not act like that. He thinks that whites don’t deserve this kind of
treatment. There is nothing he can do because if he acts like blacks are just as
equal as whites, then he would probably end up dead. If he acts like whites are
much better then blacks then nothing would happen to him. This makes him burn up
inside knowing that he hates whites so much and that blacks should not give
whites this sort of respect. In this story, Richard shows that people all have
the same feelings and are as alike on the inside as they are different on the
outside. He also shows that there is no place in the world for racism.
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