The excerpts from Dick Gregory's novel were very inspirational. When he was young he felt embarrassed for being poor and his teacher was cruel. When he grew up, despite being a well known athlete, he still had to negotiate for rights that everyone else took for granted. I learned how traumatizing it can be for someone to grow up in this hostile environment. It was surprising and disturbing to see how much racism and poverty affected him as a child. I was very upset when his teacher embarrassed him by telling him he didn't have a dad in front of the whole class. I don't understand why she would do that to him. Obviously this is a defining moment in the rest excerpt because after this he has more shame about his lifestyle. Even when he was a star he couldn't even go to a restaurant to get a pen to sign autographs because of the color of his skin. This is similar to when Jackie Robinson was an elite baseball player and still was treated like a second class citizen. He is inspirational because despite facing so many obstacles, he still found a way to become successful. Dick Gregory's novel's purpose is to demand sympathy. He knows that most people haven't experienced the racism that he has and …show more content…
It is necessary to understand how detrimental racism can be to someone's life. People need to see the effects of racism. It is good to read along with To Kill A Mockingbird because it shows racism from the black perspective. The main characters in To Kill A Mockingbird are white so you don't see it from the other point of view. These excerpts provide examples of racism from the victim's perspective. This is just as important to understand this as Scottsboro Boys because this shows what years of racism and poverty did to his childhood. This book can help people understand what black people had to deal with. It is vital that people understand the message of this novel so they know the importance of standing up to