How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Why should we fund this program, pay the extra insurance, and pay for the extra staff hours if these African Americans are just going to throw it away? […] They're going to be thinking that people like you don't deserve a chance. (6.41)
Mr. Cintron describes the twisted thought process of the people who fund the work program, who he believes are prejudiced against African Americans like Reese.
Quote #2
"I can tell where people come from by the way they talk, too," Mr. Gonder said. "They got a certain way of talking in Brooklyn. I don't like it." (7.40)
Mr. Gonder also thinks that Reese "looks like" he's from Brooklyn. Gosh, wonder why?
Quote #3
"You murdered somebody?" he asked me.
"No sir," I said. "I didn't murder anybody."
"White or black person?" he asked. (7.67-7.69)
What's worse—that Mr. Hooft thinks that Reese is a murderer just because he's in jail, the fact that he refuses to believe Reese's answer, or that it matters to him whether a victim is black or white?
Quote #4
"I don't like colored people," Mr. Hooft said. "Nothing personal, I just don't like them. And you're a colored criminal and I don't like criminals, either." (7.96)
It really isn't personal, Reese—Mr. Hooft is just a total racist. That said, it affects Reese on a personal level since the guy's a total turd to him on a number of occasions.
Quote #5
"What they know most from that is that you didn't finish regular high school," Diego said. "That puts you on a whole different level than kids who finish high school with a regular diploma." (9.7)
Diego thinks people are prejudiced against adults with GEDs, and he worries that the degree doesn't hold the same weight as a "real" high school diploma. Do you think he's right?
Quote #6
"You don't know anything. That's why you're in jail." (13.23)
Mr. Hooft assumes that anyone who's in jail is stupid or ignorant. Reese, who is smart and thoughtful, proves him wrong, though. How's that foot tasting, Mr. Hooft?
Quote #7
"The Japanese soldiers were very scary because they had dark skins—not as dark as you—and they were short." (13.25)
Mr. Hooft feared the Japanese soldiers because they looked different. Maybe he should have focused more on their guns… Just saying.
Quote #8
Nancy looked in. "You do a nice job for a Hausa boy," she said. "Sometimes Hausa boys are lazy." (18.58)
Nancy Opara, a black Nigerian exchange student, thinks that Reese looks like the Hausa people in Africa. Sounds like she's a little bit prejudiced toward them, don't you think?
Quote #9
Sometimes I think people in the outside world know how bad you feel. They know it, but then they pass it off by just giving you a label, like criminal or felon. (22.2)
Reese knows that once you're branded as a criminal, it's difficult for people to see you as a person with thoughts and feelings. Criminals are still people, yo.
Quote #10
I was innocent, but it didn't matter if the police said I was guilty. Soon as the jury looked over and saw you sitting at the defendant's table, they figured you must have done something. (27.14)
Reese knows that a jury is likely to take the word of the police over his own. But in this case, the police are wrong; Reese is innocent.