Signs

The scene showing Twyla's response to Roberta's "MOTHERS HAVE RIGHTS TOO" sign is an interesting insight into the influence each other their mothers had over them.  Roberta emphasizing the mother's rights in a school case remind us of her god fearing mother.  A woman who would have been probably a strict, structured mother to her daughter had she not been so ill.  We also see that Roberta's opposition to busing has nothing to do with the racial implications, she's simply concerned about what she feels is right by the families. Just like when she was a child and didn't understand why her mother didn't shake Mary's hand.  She doesn't think in terms of the differences of people, just in certain moral ideals that she probably isn't even sure why she possesses.
Twyla's sign on the other had ("AND SO DO CHILDREN***") marks her soreness for the encounter with Roberta's mother when they were children.  Also, she has always viewed her own mother as childish, the way she was oblivious or uncaring to how she dressed and not able to keep composure during the church service.  She seems to be saying not only do the literal children have rights, but also the mothers who may act less than motherly still have feelings too.  They are still worth something despite what Roberta's mother (and now Roberta) may think.  The way she vindictively writes "HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?" shows us she still holds Roberta more responsible for her mothers actions than her mother, because Twyla always had to be the one looking out for and corralling her own mother - she expected others to do the same.
Does this encounter prove to you that Twyla is the black character and Roberta the white?  Or are you still unsure?  There were plenty of African Americans that protested integration because they didn't want their children going to school with people they assumed would all be bigots.  

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Should Color Matter?

~Is Twyla White or Black? Is Roberta White or Black? 

I don't think we are supposed to be able to answer this, at times I thought I clearly had this figured out but then I realized it seems like in the second half of the story Morrison might have actually flipped their races in order to make the context even more confusing. Because I believe as a writer she had characters race in mind but flipped them to make sure that it wasn't something we could distinguish. Let me explain, "they never wash their hair" (3541) this is something that Twyla's mother told her about people like Roberta. I assumed to begin with this meant that Roberta was black and Twyla was white because well white girls HAVE to wash their hair daily otherwise it looks disgusting and that's not really a stereotype of the white race but growing up white people tend to be extremely confused about black hair and how it's treated, whether or not it's washed, how often and how. Of course everyone washes themselves but this sentence at the beginning I thought would create such a clear picture because that's just not a stereotype I've ever heard attributed to white people. Next was the sentence about the food Roberta refused to eat but Twyla liked "...Spam, Salisbury Steak, - even Jell-O with fruit cocktail in it..." (3542). This seemed that it could solidify the original idea that Twyla is white because Spam, Salisbury Steak and Jell-O are pretty regular meals in caucasian households. Of course not every household, and this example isn't perfect because anyone black, white, asian purple, anyone can eat this food and like or hate it but that's something I thought might be a sign. But then the script flips in the third encounter at the supermarket. When Twyla thinks to herself about Roberta "Easy I thought. Everything is so easy for them. They think they own the world." (3548). This is the point that I felt the race was switched and that she was creating this white preferential idea and painting this entitled race inequality picture that makes Roberta now look like she's the white character and the Twyla is in fact the black one. Then Twyla asks if Roberta "...married a Chinaman?" (3548). I'd actually never heard anyone in the white community use this phrase before. I honestly thought it was the name of a restaurant for the longest time in high school until someone explained to me that it's just something that black people tend to call all Chinese people and their businesses. It's a racist term and something I'd never really heard until I got to a diverse high school and heard someone outside of my race say. When they talk about "black and white" in the next few pages the girls really make no kind of distinction whom is which and I think that's because truly they each are both. The story ends with Maggie and I think if there is a race to these girls that Maggie is the determining factor. Both girls attribute Maggie to being like their mother, because Twyla doesn't see Maggie as black and Roberta does that made me think that maybe I was right from the beginning, maybe the girls saw Maggie's race as being their mothers race, as being their mother and as being their race. That's the only real thing I can think that would solidly explain a clear race but I honestly don't think we're supposed to. I don't think Toni Morrison want's us to define them to a race because it defeats the purpose. 

~How do we "read" race in society? What difference does race make and how? Are class issues ultimately as divisive as racial issues?

Race is "read" in society through stereotypes. I went to an extremely diverse high school. And there are things I noticed that taught be how little the color of your skin really means in the real scope of things. Race can make an initial opinion in someone's mind about you if they attribute a stereotype to your character before ever having talked to you but those can be immediately dispelled through a conversation and close attention. African American's are not the only people in this country that fail/drop out of school, sag their pants and belong to gangs. To think that is ignorant. I truly believe that class issues is a much more relevant way to determine issues in our society. Single mothers are in every single race and poverty doesn't have a color. But when people look at these classes you will find much more commonalities, even between a "black ghetto thug" and a "white-trash redneck" because I know that people run a spectrum and to lap everyone into one side of the pool creates more confusion than anything. I think if we dealt more with class issues than race issues we'd have less problems as a society and people that really needed the help would get it and the segregation in our country would end. Sometimes we have to stop talking about the difference between black and white and teach our children equality instead because we're all just American's but for some reason in this country we always feel the need to attach a race or color to everything. We don't have a president, we have a black president. Michael Brown wasn't shot by a cop he was shot by a white cop. We are obsessed with race and making sure people know the differences between them when really there aren't any beside what we chose to believe are differences worth separating us. I think focusing on class issues would put us in a better place as a whole but like I said that won't happen until race is no longer a box we have to check on a test or college application to distinguish who we are as a person when honestly it shouldn't matter. 

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