How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #7
"She married a Puerto Rican somewhere in New York. Since she could pass, she disowned her blackness—converted to Puerto Rican because she didn't want to be black no more." (126) (Gary's explanation of Henrietta's sister Lillian and her "conversion")
Racial identification can be complicated and fluid, and this certainly seems to be the case with Henrietta's sister Lillian. Cousin Gary explains that Lillian felt her blackness to be a burden and that she had the option of choosing another race because of her light skin. It may seem odd that the Lacks family would use the term "converted" in this case, but it's not a bad way to see it. Lillian certainly does leave her family and culture behind in the hopes of having an easier better future.
Quote #8
It was a story of white selling black, of black cultures "contaminating" white ones with a single cell in an era when a person with "one drop" of black blood had only recently gained the legal right to marry a white person. It was also the story of cells from an uncredited black woman becoming one of the most important tools in medicine. (197)
Skloot's sweeping characterization of the HeLa story is both poetic and right on the money—and tells us exactly why Henrietta's story captured her attention in the first place. The story of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa addresses not only the issue of racial exploitation and demonization, but also that of a patient's humanity and his or her right to compassionate care and privacy. Pretty clever how she links the "contamination" of the cells to the "one drop" policy of racial identification.
Quote #9
They didn't know that on the other side of the country, a white man named John Moore was about to begin fighting the same battle. Unlike the Lacks family, he knew who'd done what with his cells, and how much money they'd made. He also had the means to hire a lawyer. (198)
Skloot includes the story of Moore to show how differently things could go for a patient if he or she has the privilege of knowledge and money. And in this case, race. The question implied is this: would John Moore's case have garnered so much attention and effort if he were poor and black? In the end it didn't matter; he lost his case.