“‘Even the bird on the breeze is in perpetual battle with the winds. She makes it look easy. It is not easy. She makes it look enjoyable. It is not. […] My fight is nearly done […] Yours is beginning, and for that, I am sorry. […] But I sense trouble on those winds. We’ve been dodging it for a time just like the swift in the soapberry. It’s coming, dear child. I’d swear it is.”

This passage introduces the symbolism of storm clouds as warnings for trouble to come. Angel’s father believes the imagery in the clouds indicates trouble, foreshadowing the race riot that will occur later in the novel. His comments about birds longing for rest amid unrest also foreshadow how Greenwood will persist in love and joy despite unfolding terrors.

“The other fifteen boys chuckled at him, and that’s when the skinny boy lost himself in a fit of rage. He began pounding the crutches onto the rim of the Frisco tracks with as much force as he could muster. After a few minutes, they were shattered.

[…]

Isaiah watched them backing away from the Greenwood District, kicking up dust and rocks as they walked. Something sinister was in the air, Isaiah could feel it. Something was coming.”

This passage introduces the symbolism of the railroad tracks, which represent racial inequality and injustice, as demonstrated by the boy who uses the tracks to destroy the crutches. The determination of the white boy to destroy something of value to Angel—the crutches—is a metaphor for the white community’s determination to bring Greenwood to its knees through the massacre. This passage also introduces the symbolism of dust and dirt to stand for racial inequality and impending trouble.

“Du Bois spoke to Isaiah’s longing for an active role in the future of his people. Like Du Bois, he was tired of waiting for someone else to save him. Tired of pretending proper in front of ravenous white folks while they drained his community of its hard work and culture. Tired of waiting and watching like he had a few nights prior from behind that pitiful curtain. And tired, most of all, of anticipating the next attack. Everyone knew it was coming, sooner or later, maybe even to a community as idyllic as Greenwood.

Isaiah could feel it deep in his bones, and he knew that he was strong enough to meet it head-on.”

This passage summarizes Isaiah’s initial viewpoint on The Struggle for Justice and Equality. He prefers W. E. B. Du Bois’s approach to Booker T. Washington’s because it’s more active, direct, and speedy. He also sees an opportunity for leadership and courage in Du Bois’s activism,