2. A
light shade had been pulled down between the Black community and
all things white, but one could see through it enough to develop
a fear-admiration-contempt for the white “things”—white folks’ cars
and white glistening houses and their children and their women.
But above all, their wealth that allowed them to waste was the most enviable.
In this passage in Chapter 8,
Angelou captures Maya’s childlike observations about what makes
white people different. Her fixation on clothing as a sign of difference
also refers back to the incident in church when she suddenly realizes
that her fairy-tale taffeta dress is really an old, faded white
woman’s hand-me-down. Stamps, Arkansas, suffers so thoroughly from
segregation and Maya’s world is so completely enmeshed in the black
community that she often finds it hard to imagine what white people
look like. They appear to her more like spectral ghosts with mysterious
powers—and wonderful possessions—than as fellow human beings. At
the same time, from a young age Maya knows that white people bear
responsibility for the suffering of the cotton-pickers. She also
learns from Momma that it is best not to address any white people
directly, as it might lead to mortal danger. Momma goes so far as
never to even speak about white people without using the title “they.”
