I absolutely love this book so far. I was not sure what to
expect when I opened to the first page. I did not know that it was going to be
such an old book and that Pat grew up during some major events in America. It
is kind of cool how he is very blunt with his opinions on the characters in his
book. He gave me a totally different perspective of segregation and the
mistreatment of blacks during the sixties. It shocked me to hear how the
principal at the high school would not remove the flag in respect for Martin
Luther King’s death and for empathy of the black students that were enrolled
there. It was interesting to hear that Conroy was walking by when the first
sit-ins started in Greensboro, NC. Even though he stated he would say the word
nigger when he was younger because it was that “forbidden fruit,” he did not
join in to riot, which was interesting to me. I think it took a lot of discipline
for Conroy to not explode on the black students that were yelling, spitting,
and clawing his arm because he was simply standing where they were. It is
really interesting to hear how to black responded to the death of Martin Luther
King. When Conroy says that they a black boy told him that they were going to
burn the who town down and act out with violence because MLK was killed it
shocked me. In all the textbooks and media, it made it out to seem that the blacks
did not want violence because of the awful violence they had endured for
several years. It is cool to hear first-hand stories of the reactions of
everyone during such historical events. I also found it interesting that Conroy
was Jewish and I think that it hit home when he went to see the concentration
camps and saw such awful pictures. In a way, maybe Conroy is relating his grief
from what happened to his people with the racism and hatred towards blacks in
his own country with.
