Let the Colors Run Summary and Analysis

The bus travels to a section of Providence not often seen by Brown students. Slater Junior High School sits amid the dirty snow, pawn shops, and crap housing. It has been arranged for Cedric to spend two mornings a week, observing a classroom in eighth grade math. The teacher is a white male, and students are "tracked" into classes according to ability. In this environment, Cedric sees from whence he has come and completes his assigned journal as the black faces arrive and leave, lined up and walked from place to place. Here, kids are off-task, creating continual distractions for a teacher, whose response is to shout, condemn, and reprimand more than tech. Conversations with Mr. Fleming, the teacher, reveal low expectations and an attitude toward these kids that leaves Cedric filled with rage. His...