Michael Zarrillo Black Power Responses

Michael Zarrillo

10 September 2014

Professor Young

English 1100

Black Power Responses

McBride goes into a lot of detail about black power and what it meant to James at the time. The main point he is making about black power is that it was feared by everybody. White people were scared of blacks, especially if they were a part of a group like the Black Panthers. Even black people were scared of other blacks because if they didn't feel the same way about whites as someone else did, they could be beaten or killed. He is making the point that everyone is scared of black power, as he says in the chapter, James doesn't even know what black power is but he is scared and nervous whenever he hears it. 

McBride is defined by his identity and who he is. Throughout the chapter, he asks his Mother constantly about his family, their background, and who they are. He wants to know who he is and where he came from and where his family came from. He defines himself by identity because he wants to know these things so badly and he wants to figure out who he is from his elders. I feel like this is what defines him because he was always wondering why his Mother was light-skinned and him and all of his siblings were mixed, and dark, and light, and brown. He noticed when his brother Richie jokingly told him that he was adopted, that nobody really looked like their Mother and were all different skin tones. He asked his Mother a ton of questions relating to his identity and who he is when she got home from work at 2 am. Identity defines him because he is so obsessed with knowing who he is and where he and the rest of his family came from.