"One girl with short red hair, freckles, and a pixie smile was being especially attentive. She invited me accompany her to window that overlooked the school yard. I was suspicious of her kindness, but I wanted to believe someone was having a change of heart. As I stood beside her chatting about the bright day and the activity of the soldiers on the ground beneath us, I felt a twinge of joy.
"Stand right here. We're gonna salute the flag now," she said. I raised my hand to my chest and smile as the flag was hoisted up in front of the classroom.
"Aren't you gonna take a picture of me saluting the American flag with this famous nigger," she suddenly shouted to the boy who was focusing the camera. "Snap it, you idiot... now! I wanna get into life magazine like the niggers are.""
I picked this passage because as I was reading this I was kind of relieved that someone was actually being nice to her. Then you find out she is just using her to get on time magazine. It is actually kind of sad that Melba was so quick to trust this girl. The only reason didn't is because she craved some kind of positive reinforcement from the school and that was the only time someone approached her. Then after this the ginger actually stabbed her with a pointed stick and the teacher didn't do anything about it. I think it is sad that this is where the education system was at at this point in time.
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