Before mentioning on who has the power or how is power given or held, I would like to say that I admire Richard Wright's courage and strength on how he observed and absorbed the damages that he went through during his childhood years on how black people are treated by the white people. This can relate to recent times of our era on how whites now treat illegal immigrants and have no pity on people other than themselves thinking that they deserve all the right and attention. But other than that, Richard Wright deserves a lot of respect for what he witnessed.
After reading this essay, it is shown that white people have the power with doing what they feel is right in their minds and their demand of force. It is shown with detail that white people can attack a black person and get away with it. When Richard was mentioning a story, he said that he saw a white man and his son pass by merely kicking a black woman and then minutes later both of them washing their hands from the blood they had on them and chuckling. The Black woman was accused of being drunk by a police officer who recently before saw the woman walk past by him normal but due to the color of her skin, he "does the right thing" and takes her away in his patrol car. Richard knew he couldn't snitch for what happen to the woman could be his future fate, maybe worse. Another story could tell on how whites hold on to be the superior power. While working in an optical company, Richards boss told two workers (Pease & Morrie) to help out Richard learn new stuff about the company and they agreed knowing that the boss would keep a good eye on them. One month later, they started treating Richard harshly forcing him to walk away from his job due to not calling Peace
Mr.Pease. He knew he couldn't do a thing about it due to the boss being also a fellow white man and maybe instantly taking the side of the two workers side of the story which can show on how smart they are to keep their power by not being caught doing something bad.
People without the power (black people) have no other right than to be humiliated and harassed by the superior power (white people). Since mostly white people were the law (police), no one could ever help them or believe a black person's story. They would most likely reason and take the side of the white man.The workers told Richard that blacks shouldn't be as smart as whites and threatened him. A quote that I chose to describe merely the whole point of blacks not having the power, "but the color of a Negro's skin makes him easily recognizable, makes him suspect, converts him into a defenseless target." (pg 10). All the places Richard describes show that blacks were easily targeted. I personally believe that there couldn't have been a form of resistance to be put in effect for the system because there was somehow a way white people could counter attack and control the system.