#306 The Bargain- David Dante Troutt
Sometimes the earth moves right under our feet. It might be
imperceptible, but the change significant, profound, and irreversible.
Louisville was a modern city at the beginning of the 20th century,
racially mixed and economically sound. By the start of WW-I, Jim crow laws had
slowly but relectlessly taken over. What was up was down, what was legal was
outlawed, what was the norm, became taboo.
“The races made a game of it, the one hopping over the other
and taking a row of boxes according to the rules of an invisible grid.”
During this time. Tommy Lee a successful black bookkeeper
developed a social relationship with a white entrepreneur George Byron. They
would make small wagers and deals among each other, with one being on race.
George thought he could come to know the mind of a black man.
“There’s a difference between true knowledge and other kinds
of facts…I want that true knowledge at the heart of every colored man.”
While Tommy tried desperately to get George to hire him do
to the books for his new hardware store, George exploited Tommy to gather
information about the black consumer. Jim Crow hit hard, and both were thrown
for a loop.
“It was all that remained. Fooled by progress.”
Notable Passage: “The turn of a century mean nothing to the
earth; when you’ve been spinning in he millions, dividing by hundreds adds
little to your task.”
Rating: 7-7-8-7 Total= 29
No comments:
Post a Comment