How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Line)
Quote #4
"That boy is white, Samantha! You could almost see through his skin. He's like blue-white! That's even whiter than white."
"But," Samantha said calmly, "He says he's not white. We don't know what the world looks like from inside his eyes. For all we know, you're white." (6.43-44)
What's up with Jesus Boy telling everyone that he's not white? It's hard for Frannie to wrap her mind around the idea that someone could present as a white person and yet identify as something else.
Quote #5
"It would have been okay for me. But it wasn't okay for my mom and dad," he said. "It was hard for them. People can be so stupid. Once this cop stopped us and asked me if I knew my dad. Me and my dad were fooling around, kinda wrestling and stuff. He thought my dad was hurting me."
He looked at me, then said, "I don't look like him, I guess." (10.61-62)
Even though Jesus Boy is totally white, he's seen some racial discrimination in his lifetime. He gets that people are going to discriminate against his parents for being black, and he hates it.
Quote #6
"I ain't your man, white boy!"
The Jesus Boy looked at him calmly and said, "Well, I ain't your white boy, man."
[…] but then the door opened and a tall, dark-skinned man came in, looked around, then saw us.
"You ready," he said to the Jesus Boy.
The Jesus Boy nodded. "This is Frannie. Frannie, this is my pops. That's Trevor." (10.76-83)
Surprise—it turns out that all this time, Jesus Boy has been telling everyone that he's not white because he comes from a black family. That's definitely not what they expected.