Black Like Me- Second Response

Outside Reading Second Response 1. In the second-third of Black Like Me, John Griffin continued writing about his unusual and courageous expedition into the deep south where, with his darkened Negro-like skin, he experienced personally what it was like to be a Negro in the 1960s. Griffin hitchhiked several times and was picked up by white men who seemed interested in learning more about Negros’ sexuality. For example, one of the white men who picked Griffin up assumed that he was black and questioned him on personal and private issues he thought were common to black people. During these rides, Griffin observed first-hand the racial discrimination that whites demonstrated towards blacks. This gave Griffin a better understanding of the ways that black people were treated differently than white people. Also during this part of the book, Griffin stopped taking the skin pigment pills that had originally turned his skin black. His skin then returned to its normal color, which was white. At this point in the story, it was unclear whether Griffin had completed his experiment. 2. John Griffin was very courageous. He overcame obstacles such as blindness and paralysis. These things made him understand discrimination and inspired him to undertake the experiment that he writes about in his book. Griffin wanted the readers to understand that whites and blacks should be treated equally. This experiment proved to him that there was a definite inequality between these two races. For example, he observed that the darker one’s skin color, the less he or she would be trusted and that there was a definite separation between blacks and whites when riding on buses, using the restroom or drinking from water fountains. This troubled Griffin who stated “……the Negro is the same human as the white man” (91). He knew regardless of skin color, that people were people no matter what. Griffin noted that, whether we are Negro or white, we are all human beings. “….the pigment has