One Crazy Summer Race

Delphine realizes that how she acts isn't just a reflection on her or her folks; she represents all African American people. That's a lot of pressure for an eleven year old (or anyone, really). Ugh.

Nobody wants to be treated like an animal. This is exactly how Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern feel when people stop to take their picture in the middle of the airport to take their picture. What these people are really saying is that it's weird for African American people to act like humans. No wonder it bugs Delphine so much—it's super offensive and racist.

Hmm… is it just us or does Delphine stereotype people based on race, too? Here she explains what people in front of her in line look like. Sure, she doesn't mean anything bad by it, but she still makes snap judgments based on race.

Delphine explains to us that there's a big difference between saying black and colored. The girls don't care very much which word is used, but everyone at the Center gasps when they hear the word colored. Even though Fern is black, there are still rules and expectations about how she should self-identify.

Fern is ticked when she sees her beloved doll covered in marker from head to toe. It's not just because Vonetta destroyed her stuff, though, it's because Fern didn't have a problem with the doll being white. Even though Crazy Kelvin thought it was a huge problem, Fern just didn't see what the big deal was. To her, a doll isn't about race.

We're pretty sure this isn't the best question to ask Hirohito. After all, why does it matter? Just because he's mixed race doesn't mean anything. Besides, it goes against everything Delphine has told us about how she feels about race. She's treated differently because she's black, but then judges Hirohito because he's not black enough.

This game of counting black people on TV shows that there are very few black people represented on TV and in the media at this time. In fact, there are so few people that you can count them.

Cecile sets the girls straight when they think their hair is "misbehaving" simply because it's a little hard to tame, explaining that this is how it's supposed to be. This exchange makes Delphine realize how much she expects everyone to look like white people. Even if they have black skin, she still thinks they should have straight hair.

We can tell that Delphine is still figuring out this whole race thing. Why? She's still learning how to talk about race. Part of her journey is understanding why it's okay to talk about race in certain situations (like at the Center) and not cool in other scenarios (like asking Hirohito about his race).

The girls might edit Cecile's poem, but they make an important change. They change it from talking about the experience of being a mom to being black. Adding in that word ("black") and reciting it at the rally gets everyone thinking about how black people don't have equal power or rights.