The first thing I noticed about how this was written was that it was everyday scenarios that happen to people in real life. I had to reread these sections a couple of times just to make sure that I knew what I was reading.
The scenario that stood out to me the most was the story about the therapist and the patient (18). This is something that happens often to everyone in the world because a lot of the times, a name and a voice don’t match the face. A perfect example is when I thought that Claudia Rankine was a white woman, but I discovered that she was instead Jamaican after reading her bio.
Another scenario that really stood out to me was about the woman whose son didn’t get into college (13). I hate people that think that they have a sense of entitlement when their family went to the same college. Even if they have affirmative action, it doesn’t guarantee that a minority will get into a college just because they’re a minority. Comments like this make me think that as a black young woman, if I did apply to a school that was predominately white for my Master’s degree, would I get in because of my credentials, or just to meet a quota.
The picture of the goat was another thing that stood out to me, not only because it was disturbing, but because it had a picture of a sad black person on it (19). The lamb tends to be a symbol of innocence, but black people are not always innocent because they tend to play the race card when in conflict with white people. Oddly enough, I do feel bad for the white people because just like how all black people are not ghetto, eat fried chicken and drink Kool-Aid, not all white people are racists and have malicious intentions with their actions. It’s just the really racist and hateful ones that mess it up for the whole group.
Overall, there is a struggle on both sides. Do you agree?