Summary Of Mrs. Moore's Short Stories

I attended the last session of the Women and Gender Studies conference. There was around a panel of 10 college students. Each girl has the job of taking a piece of literature and revising it to expose the white privilege present in the situation. One of the goals of the students writing these pieces was to show how race, class, and gender all interact with one another. The first 8 girls use a piece of literature from the 1970’s, in which a group of African American children go to a toy shop with their neighborhood caretaker, Mrs. Moore. The group is from Harlem, which is a poorer part of, but the toy shop is in an expensive part of Manhattan. Mrs. Moore brings them to this toy shop to show the children what they could have if they work hard and escape the oppressive system like she did. Mrs. Moore was trying to encourage the children to get an education like she did so that they can afford these toys for their future children. Each student’s job when rewriting the scene was to show how the white individuals re-embodies shame. By ridiculing the group of African Americans, these individuals are regenerating racial hierarchies. In several re-writes of this story, the students add a white store owner into the story. This white store owner overhears one of the children asking if it would be okay to steal. As a result, the …show more content…
The people in power want to stay in power so microaggressions are used to put down those who aren’t as fortunate. One of the most important quotes from one of the pieces written by the students is “being black is not a crime.” There are so many negative effects that come from any stereotyping. Even though these pieces focus mainly on race, it also shows how these individuals are at an even lower place in society based on their genders as well. Race, class, and gender are all intertwined and work together to determine the place someone holds in