Piedmont was filled with hope that an opportunity to attend an all white school would make a powerful difference in his life and that of his mother's. Despite his intelligence, despite his impeccable application- -it was one answer that ruined his chances. The white administrators, psychologists, and parents were not interested in a black man who would fight to defend his honor or opportunity. They wanted someone who would feel forever indebted to them for selecting him. They wanted someone who would passively continue to take abuse even though he had proved himself academically and intellectually equal to his white peers. They wanted a black student who would be seen and not heard.
I understand his comment and agree that it was a perfectly normal reaction. By the time Piedmont was working at the Purple Pigeon he knew even more about how opportunity and basic rights were denied to other black men and women through the stories shared with him by his roommates at the funeral home. It probably felt good to Piedmont that something was taken away from the white people for once.
I thought of the saying "what comes around goes around". We may think we treat people the same. We may think we are kind to everyone. We may think something isn't any of our business because it doesn't personally involve us. But there is a price for standing on the sidelines and remaining silent. Just because you may hand your black maid or black chauffeur your children's outgrown clothing or leftovers from a holiday meal, does not make you a friend of the black population of Atlanta.