Black like me 2

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Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin In the book Black like me John Howard Griffin points out that the Negro doesn't understand the white any more than the white understands the Negro. Specific examples of the book show that both colors were racist to each other.

The whites are especially racist with the blacks as seen while Griffin was hitchhiking through Mississippi. The whites were all keens on inquiring about his sex life, which they were convinced, was different than their own. "What's the matter haven't you got any manhood"? Griffin was taken aback by the questions, he had no idea that there were such rumors of a black's sex life.

Another part in the book shows that the whites did not understand why blacks stayed in their towns when the towns offered nothing to the Negro in form of stores, washrooms or jobs. If this was asked to a black the answer would have been related to blacks desire to keep fighting and struggling for desegregation.

Of course, nearly any white man would fail to understand this. The white community wanted none of the blacks about in their town.

The ignorance of whites or their "misunderstanding" is clear when Griffin is on the bus and requests to get off at his stop. The bus driver refuses;"I can't leave the door open all night". This was just pure disrespect from the driver for he had nothing better to do than wait for traffic. Griffin at the time was exhausted and he was trying hard not to release his rage towards the bus driver. Griffin later writes in his journal "this is the only deliberate act of cruelty that I encountered on any of the city buses of New Orleans". He also says that the act was done strictly against...