Review - The Color of an Awkward Conversation

The following passage (paragraph 1) mainly shows that __________ .

I was annoyed the first time an African American man called me “sister.” It was in a Brooklyn store, and I had recently arrived from Nigeria, a country where, thanks to the mosquitoes that kept British colonizers from settling, my skin color did not determine my identity, did not limit my dreams or my confidence. And so, although I grew up reading books about the baffling places where black people were treated badly for being black, race remained an exotic abstraction: It was Kunta Kinte.

• the writer experienced little racial prejudice before she moved to America

• Nigeria’s climate kept the British people from living in the African country

• the writer experienced prejudice in Great Britain

• there is no prejudice in Nigeria

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Which of these inferences about the writer is best supported by the following passage (paragraph 2)?

Until that day in Brooklyn. To be called “sister” was to be black, and blackness was the very bottom of America's pecking order. I did not want to be black.

• The writer would not have moved to America if she had known racism existed in the country.

• The writer was offended by the racist remark of being called “sister.”

• The writer had a general understanding of American culture before she moved there.

• The writer had assumed that Brooklyn was a place without racist tendencies.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

What is most closely the meaning of the word manifest as it appears in the passage below (paragraphs 7–8)?

Deniers use “racist” as one would use “dinosaur,” to refer to a phenomenon that no longer exists. Although the way that blackness manifests itself in America has changed since 1965, the way that it is talked about has not. I have a great and complicated affection for this country — America is like my distant uncle who does not always remember my name but occasionally gives me pocket money — and what I admire most is its ability to create enduring myths.

• verb | an illness revealing itself through symptoms

• verb | to show or present a quality or feeling

• verb | a spirit or a ghost appearing

• noun | a document that reveals the cargo and passengers of a ship

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CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

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CCSS.RL.9-10.4

How does the author most closely define "Diminishers" in the passage below (paragraphs 5–6)?

“That kid's mother is so ignorant,” one friend said. “Ignorant” suggested that an affluent, educated American living in a Philadelphia suburb in 1999 did not realize that black people are human beings. “It was just a kid being a kid. It wasn't racist,” another said. “Racist” suggested it was no big deal, since neither the child nor his mother had burned a cross in my yard. I called the first friend a Diminisher and the second a Denier and came to discover that both represented how mainstream America talks about blackness. Diminishers have a subtle intellectual superiority and depend on the word “ignorant.” They believe that black people still encounter unpleasantness related to blackness but in benign forms and from unhappy people or crazy people or people with good intentions that are bungled in execution. Diminishers think that people can be “ignorant” but not “racist” because these people have black friends, supported the civil rights movements or had abolitionist forebears.

• They usually call an incident racist when it is warranted.

• They wrongly see racist incidents as almost never being about race.

• They are the only Americans with whom the writer will be friends.

• They are right to see racist incidents as almost never truly being about race.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

With which statement about people she labels “Deniers” would the author most likely agree?

• They are most likely to express a racist idea.

• Their belief that race is simply about the color of one’s skin, and not one’s social identity, is faulty.

• They are trying to take race out of American politics.

• They are correct in believing that race is simply about skin color and has little to do with social identity.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.6

CCSS.RI.11-12.6

CCSS.RI.8.9

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CCSS.RL.9-10.6

Which of these passages most strongly supports the correct answer to the previous question?

• “Deniers believe that black people stopped encountering unpleasantness related to their blackness when Martin Luther King Jr. died.”

• “Diminishers have a subtle intellectual superiority and depend on the word ‘ignorant.’ ”

• “Deniers use ‘racist’ as one would use ‘dinosaur,’ to refer to a phenomenon that no longer exists.”

• “They are ‘colorblind’ and use expressions like ‘white, black or purple, we’re all the same’ — as though race were a biological rather than a social identity.”

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CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

With which statement about the term racist would the author most likely agree?

• It no longer works and should be substituted for more specific phrases that acknowledge the complexities of racism and its harsh realities.

• It no longer functions properly because people have lost touch with its actual definition.

• It should no longer be used because racism doesn’t really exist in America, and so more complex phrases should be employed.

• It is one of the most hurtful words in the English language.

Which of these passages most strongly supports the correct answer to the previous question? 

• “Still, what is most striking to me are the strange ways in which blackness is talked about.”

• “The word ‘racist’ should be banned. It is like a sweater wrung completely out of shape; it has lost its usefulness.”

• “In place of ‘racist,’ descriptive, albeit unwieldy, expressions might be used, such as ‘incidents that negatively affect black people, which, although possibly complicated by class and other factors, would not have occurred if the affected people were not black.’ ”

• Ten years after first being called a ‘sister,’ I think of Don Cheadle as a talented brother, but I have never stopped being aware of the relative privilege of having had those West African mosquitoes.”

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Match the vocabulary word to its corresponding definition.​ ​ ​

• baffling

• having wealth
• affluent

• difficult to understand
• manifests

• shows or presents a quality or feeling
• similar

• resembling

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CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

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CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Arrange the following portions of the essay in linear order:

• The writer argues that, unlike in Nigeria, America is a place where being black shapes lives.

• THIRD

• The writer suggests that people should describe racist incidents rather than using the word racist.

• FIFTH

• The writer explains that she was called “sister” by an African American.

• FIRST

• The writer notes that being called “sister” was a first moment of racial awareness in America.

• FOURTH

• The writer argues that some people deny the existence of racism and others diminish its effect.

• SECOND