On pages 80-81, we see Obama’s past and what he experienced during then. Obama seems to live his daily life with racism happening to him. Like a kid calling him coon, and a tennis pro making racist jokes about his skin. He would even experience racism in his grandparent’s apartment where he lived. It was usual for him to experience and hear racist things in his daily life.
“The first boy, in seventh grade, who called me a coon; his tears of surprise – “Why’dya do that?”- when I gave him a bloody nose.”
We see what Obama did in the past when he experienced racism. This scene shows us that Obama was not a timid type when he was a kid. He is not the type to allow people to be racist to him in front of his face. He’s better than other black kids who would probably allow it in his time. It’s not a good thing what he did, but he’ll either say something back to them or do something physical about it.
In this scene, Obama learned about the world he is in and how racist it can be because of his skin color. He learned not to take their insult and to respond physically or verbally to them. He experienced more racism down the line, and he handled it better than he used to as a teenager. He mostly doesn’t rely on violence to deal with racist people anymore. But mostly verbally.
