I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Chapter 27

During the war, Japanese Californians are relocated, and black Californians take their places in the businesses and homes. Maya marvels at how these two groups, who have so much racism in common, could not sympathize with one another. Black people simply accept their good fortune, without wondering who is suffering because of it. Maya enjoys living in San Francisco. It feels big and dangerous and free, and that suits her. Yet she knows that racism is not missing from the city. She tells the story of a white woman who would not sit next to a black man on the bus, saying that he was a Negro and a draft dodger as well-he should fight for his country, as her son is doing. The man told her, "Then ask your son to look around for my arm, which I left over there." Chapter 27, pg. 208

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