In the article “My Mother’s Dreams for Her Son, and All Black Children” the author, Als, details his experiences as growing up black in a single mother home. The quote, ““Standing by my mother’s living-room window, I tried, tentatively, to ask her why our world was burning, burning. She gave me a forbidding look: Boy, be quiet so you can survive, her eyes seemed to say,” gives the best example of what the experience is like. During the riots in 1967, Als, experienced his community falling apart over the death of a 15-year-old boy, Richard Ross. Seeing the destruction before his eyes he was eager to ask why, but his mom quickly silenced him. I believe he was asked this because it was his people that suffered from the death of Richard Ross. If this is so why do they go on to burn down the community that others just like them call home? “Why not trash a universe that has trashed you” as he says.

Another quote “Like any number of black boys in those neighborhoods, I grew up in a matrilineal society, where I had been taught the power—the necessity—of silence” also shows what he went through growing up. He had to be silent about all the bad experiences he went through as talking about them could endanger his life. This was the reality of the period he was growing in. In most cases talking back against the supremacy of whites would cause danger whereas he had to remain silent whenever faced with discrimination or prejudice.

“Mixed with the confusion and the vague erotics of the moment—it was a thrill to feel my small hand in his big one (was he my father?), though I had already learned to hide that part of myself—was my silent bewilderment over the fact that poverty and frustration could be an opportunity for a photograph, though no one asked us what it was like to lose a home or to dream of living in one,” was the segment of the text that caught my interest. Though his community was in a horrible state, the mayor, John V. Lindsay only stopped to take a photograph with the young Als. He did not care to ask how the youngster felt about what had just happened and how he could help to make them feel safer in their community. Instead, he only took a photograph. This intrigued me because I could also relate. Growing up I would see this happen all the time whenever some young boy got killed. Politicians would just come to our community and act like they care. They would find a young child or senior citizen to take a picture with for the local news or paper. They did not care to ask how I felt knowing that someone I had known for so long died because of gun violence. They only cared to uphold their image so that when the next election came around they would have good arguments to ask for votes.