The Color of Water

“The community put such a premium on success. And you had no excuse to blame racism or discrimination as a reason why you couldn’t succeed.” Ed Smith

I believe that this quote best describes the section of the memoir that I am currently reading. I just recently finished a part of the book dealing with the schooling of James and his siblings and we find out here that mommy believed very strongly in success in school. It wasn’t so much the community that put a premium on success, it was mommy. She made it so that her children could succeed. However, it was hard for her children because they were black, but she sent them to predominantly Jewish schools, which in turn made them the token black students. This quote is really showing that regardless of the racism or discrimination an individual or group of people receives, the community’s focus on success is what leads people to succeed.

In The Color of Water, this is not the case. It is quite the opposite of this quote. Although the students, especially James are succeeding in school, they are being knocked back because of racism. If it wasn’t for them being as smart as they are, they would not be doing well in school and this would be strictly based on racism and discrimination. We can see how this happens through the teachers in the chapter, School. “…despite the racist attitudes of many of our teachers, who were happy to knock our 95 test scores down to 85’s and 80’s over the most trivial mistakes.” (McBride, 89) This goes directly against the quote and even though mommy has put such a premium on success, racism and discrimination is a big reason why these kids could not succeed.