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"It wasn't no them and us. It was we. We was together on this Hill."

This quote is spoken by Bernice Davis in Chapter 23, after her brother Fatty claims that Chicken Hill's Black and Jewish communities do not owe each other anything. She responds with the above, citing the strong bond between the two communities despite having little in common. Acts of compassion and kindness as well as a shared “other” status tie these communities together. In a country whose rhetoric often employs an "us vs. them" mentality, Bernice delivers a beautiful tribute to a genuine solidarity between Chicken Hill's Black and Jewish populations, the divide between the two communities dissolved. On Chicken Hill, diversity has become a unifying force rather than a dividing one. This sentiment is especially meaningful coming from Bernice, who readers know has struggled with discrimination all her life and withdrawn from people like Chona as a result.

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