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One main point of the United States Constitution was missing from the Jim
Crow South: equality. The Constitution clearly states that all men are created
equal, but in the Jim Crow era, blacks were continuously persecuted for
something that would be acceptable today. During slavery the South was a place
of racial prejudice, discrimination, and hate. Blacks could be punished for
simply looking at a white person the wrong way. Punishments included arrests,
beatings, even lynchings were a common part of the age. Blacks in this time were
considered second class citizens and had basically no rights what so ever.
Blacks that Richard knew, dealt with racism in different ways. One way that
Richard’s friend Griggs dealt with racism was to learn to act how whites wanted
him to. He wouldn’t do anything to make white people mad. Some advice that
Griggs gave to Richard was to, “learn how to live in the South” (217). He told
him to get out of white people’s way and to not make them mad. Griggs main
advice was to act like a black boy is suppose to. Another person who had to deal
with racism was the hotel maid at Richard’s old job at a hotel. She was walking
out of the hotel with Richard and a white security guard grabbed her butt. Even
though she knew exactly what happened, she just kept on walking.
Richard asked
her, “How could you let him do that” (234). She replied, “It don’t matter. They
do that all the time” (234). The hotel maid had encountered this abuse a lot so
she was used to it, knowing if she spoke up she would be punished. Richard
wanted to do something but she just told him, “You woulda been a fool if you had
done something” (234). By this she meant to let whites do whatever they pleased.
Shorty, an elevator operator, dealt with racism in a different way. As he was
working the elevators one day, a white man got on. In desperate need of a
quarter for lunch, he asked the white man for one. The white man refused, so
Shorty stopped the elevator. He wouldn’t go to the man’s floor until he gave him
a quarter. Shorty pulled down his pants and told him he could kick him in the
butt for 25 cents. The guy did and gave the money to Shorty. Richard, who was on
the elevator observing everything that had happened, said, “A quarter can’t pay
you for what he did to you” (270). Shorty just replied “ Yeah but my ass is
tough and quarters are scarce” (270). Shorty is a daring boy and he would do
what ever it takes to get ahead in life. On the other hand Richard himself coped
with racism in many different ways. One racist situation that Richard
encountered was when he was suppose to read his valedictorian speech at his
graduation. A couple of days before Richards graduation the principle of
Richard’s school called him in to his office. The principle gave Richard a
prepared speech to read for the graduation. Richard explained to him that he had
already wrote a speech. The principle told him, ” Listen boy, your going to
speak to both white and colored people that night. What can you alone think of
saying to them” (206). Angered, Richard responded, “ The people are coming to
hear the students and I won’t make a speech that you’ve written” (206). The
thought of not reading a speech that Richard wrote was terrible to Richard. He
wanted to read his own speech so he could feel pride in something that he worked
hard on.
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