How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
I had come through that back door against my will, and it seemed that he and the sheriff were doing everything they could to humiliate me even more by making me wait on them. (6.47)
The way that society is structured allows white people to humiliate black people without even having to face them or speak to them. Designing a house with a back door for black people to come through instead of using the front door, and having them wait in the kitchen for hours on end for a meeting, are subtle ways of demonstrating control.
Quote #5
"We black men have failed to protect our women since the time of slavery. We stay here in the South and are broken, or we run away and leave them alone to look after the children and themselves." (21.86)
This statement by Grant shows the very deep effects that the history of slavery can have on family structures and gender relationships for an entire race. Even though slavery had ended almost a hundred years before (not actually a long time, historically speaking), its legacy still limits black men's choices in the South.
Quote #6
"[. . . B]ut what she wants to hear first is that he did not crawl to that white man, that he stood at that last moment and walked. Because if he did not, she knows that she will never get another chance to see a black man stand for her." (21.86)
Miss Emma's desire is completely limited by her surroundings and her race. She never even dreams of a way of freeing or rescuing Jefferson from the electric chair—that is completely outside of her capacity is a black woman living in a racist system. Instead, she just hopes that he will somehow be rescued from the racism that has limited his own conception of himself.