Empoword

Part Two: Text Wrestling 230 children’s school, and Twyla suggests that she is a black mother who simply wants best for her son Joseph even if that does mean going to a school that is “far-out-of-the-way” (Morrison 150). At this point in the story Roberta lives in “Annandale” which is “a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives” (Morrison 147), and at the same time, Twyla is “Mrs. Benson” living in “Newburgh” where “half the population… is on welfare…” (Morrison 145). Twyla implies that Newburgh is being gentrified by these “smart IBM people”, which inevitably results in an increase in rent and property values, as well as changes the area’s culture. In America, minorities are usually the individuals who are displaced and taken over by wealthier, middle-class white individuals. From Twyla’s tone, and the setting, it seems that Twyla is a black individual that is angry towards “the rich IBM crowd” (Morrison 146). When Twyla and Roberta are bickering over school busing, Roberta claims that America “is a free country” and she is not “doing anything” to Twyla (Morrison 150). From Roberta’s statements, it suggests that she is a affluent, and ignorant white person that is oblivious to the hardships that African Americans had to overcome, and still face today. Rhonda Soto contends that “Discussing race without including class analysis is like watching a bird fly without looking at the sky…”. It is ingrained in America as the normative that whites are mostly part of the middle-class and upper-class, while blacks are part of the working-class. Black individuals are being classified as low-income based entirely on their skin color. It is pronounced that Twyla is being discriminated against because she is a black woman, living in a low-income neighborhood where she lacks basic resources. For example, when Twyla and Roberta become hostile with one another over school busing, the supposedly white mothers start moving towards Twyla’s car to harass her. She points out that “[my] face[ ] looked mean to them” and that these mothers “could not wait to throw themselves in front of a police car” (Morrison 151). Twyla is indicating that these mothers are privileged based on their skin color, while she had to wait until her car started to rock back and forth to a point where “the four policeman who had been drinking Tab in their car finally got the message and [then] strolled over” (Morrison 151). This shows that Roberta and the mothers protesting are white, while Twyla is a black woman fighting for her resources. Not only is Twyla being targeted due to her race, but