How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
…the cross-legged figures of six other blacks; each with a rusty hatchet in his hand, which, with a bit of brick and a rag, he was engaged like a scullion in scoring…" (3.17)
This should be a red flag for Delano right away; the slaves are sharpening axes? But he can't believe that black people could control a ship, or control a white captain, so he's like, huh, I guess that's cool. Racism: it makes you dumb.
Quote #2
"…don't speak of me; Babo is nothing; what Babo has done was but duty." "Faithful fellow!" cried Captain Delano. "Don Benito, I envy you such a friend; slave I cannot call him." (3.47-48)
Babo is doing his duty—to his own people. The idea that Babo's duty is to his slaveholder is really racist; why should he feel loyalty to the people who robbed him of his freedom?
Quote #3
Suddenly, one of the black boys, enraged at a word dropped by one of his white companions, seized a knife, and..struck the lad over the head, inflicting a gash from which blood flowed. (3.60)
This scene, and Delano's reaction, points to the ways that different racist tropes can work together, or sometimes against each other. The idea that black people are violent or dangerous seems to be at play here, as the black boy attacks the white one for (what seems like) no reason. At the same time, Delano can't believe anything is amiss, because Don Benito says it isn't, and he's white, and therefore in control.