Stores of the No Sayers
- Back at the People's Center, everyone is super supportive of the girls.
- They go on with the cause, too, now more than ever.
- Cecile is considered a freedom fighter. Delphine knows this, too, and figures they have to go to the rally now to support her mother's fight.
- She decides not to call Pa or Big Ma to tell them about Cecile being arrested.
- First off, she feels safe in the community they've become a part of in Oakland, plus she's really not ready to hear Big Ma's I told you so about Cecile being no good and getting herself thrown in jail.
- Sister Mukumbu and Sister Pat try to explain why Cecile was arrested: Basically, the police were after the two Panthers that were with her at the time, but she was taken in, too, because she volunteered her printing press to the cause.
- Knowledge is power, after all, so keeping people informed is the same as giving them power.
- Let's just say the police don't want the cause to be powerful.
- Delphine knows that's a way of twisting the truth a bit, but she likes that way; she likes thinking of her mother as a fighter.
- Crazy Kelvin offers some support to the girls, too, but Fern just looks at him.
- She says, "What's wrong with this picture?" just like he said to her when he saw her white doll, then she calls him Fido and barks at him.
- We're not totally sure what this is about, by the way, but it's pretty cool to see Kelvin taken down a peg by little Fern.
- The she starts singing again, "I saw something!" like she did on the bus to San Francisco. Again, she won't tell us what it is. Out with it, Fern.
- The kids from the Center hand out flyers for the people's rally coming soon.
- They each take a turn asking storeowners to put the flyers up in their window; some say yes, some say no.
- Delphine and Eunice each challenge themselves to ask the owners who aren't a guaranteed yes.
- Delphine even tries the big Safeway store where they buy groceries, but the manager says no.
- Delphine walks out respectfully.
- She's been keeping track of all the no responses and vows never to spend another dime in those stores. You go, Delphine.