Black Boy Violence Quotes Page 1
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| Quote #1 "You just stay right where you are," she said in a deadly tone. "I’m going to teach you this night to stand up and fight for yourself." […] "Take this money, this note, and this stick," she said. "Go to the store and buy those groceries. If those boys bother you, then fight." (1.1.206) |
If anyone should understand Richard’s violent tendencies, it’s his mom. She did teach him how to fight, after all.
| Quote #2 Our battles were real and bloody; we threw rocks, cinders, coal, sticks, pieces of iron, and broken bottles, and while we threw them we longed for even deadlier weapons. (1.3.76) |
Like father, like son. Just like little kids playing house, these older boys have already started playing "segregation" and "racism."
| Quote #3 Knowing that if I did not win or make a good showing I would have to fight a new boy each day, I fought tigerishly, trying to leave a scar, seeking to draw blood as proof that I was not a coward, that I could take care of myself. (1.3.185) |
Richard literally has to fight to stay alive. He may be too shy to say a word in the classroom, but he has no problem beating people up at recess.
