During the time when racism was an ongoing crisis, African Americans had no choice to put their pride aside, ignore their differences and show fear in order to survive. Surviving in those times consisted of being treated like nothing, crucial things being done to you or a member of your family while your instinct tells you to fight back to stand up for yourself but your pride and the thought of living kicks in, bringing you back to reality. In Nurturing Anger by Jacqueline Ellis, she examines anger and considers its complications for black young girls who were adopted by white women. In this passage she states “Repressing anger is a means of survival”. During the time when racism was a huge issue, there were many things you were opted out of doing due to the color of your skin and whether you wanted to survive in a white-dominated community. There are multiple things you were not obligated to do or say. …show more content…
“Here I learned to lie, to steal, to disassemble. I learned to play that dual role which every negro must play if he wants to eat and lie” Being surrounded by white people Richard came in contact with many incidents where he couldn 't respond like he wanted to, he had to repress his anger if he wanted to live. He watched black women get beaten and he even experienced things that he could not control. His pride was shot down in some incidents but he responds or he would have gotten beaten or killed, In Jacqueline 's passage, if her daughter would have responded with anger, the outcome would not have been positive or