help me you literature gurus., ...please. LOL Options

[xscore]

i'm working on an assignment right now. i was absent the day it was assigned, and the class had also discussed it that day. =(

the below quotations are excerpts from martin luther king's "why we can't wait".

"The girl's father is a porter in a downtown department store. He will always be a porter, for there are no promotions for the Negro in this store, where every counter serves him except the one that sells hot dogs and orange juice."

does anyone know what he means by this?
it's just not making ANY sense to me. =(





and how would you categorize the style of the below paragraph?

"This boy and girl, separated by stretching miles, are wondering: Why does misery constantly haunt the Negro? In some distant past, had their forebears done some tragic injury to the nation, and was the curse of punishment upon the black race? Had they shirked in their duty as patriots, betrayed their country, denied their national birthright? Had they refused to defend their land against a foreign foe?"


yeah, i feel pretty stupid. =x

thanks in advance.

[*Blow_Don't_SUCK*]

"The girl's father is a porter in a downtown department store. He will always be a porter, for there are no promotions for the Negro in this store, where every counter serves him except the one that sells hot dogs and orange juice."

I think he's just saying that black people aren't given real or good opportunities and good service?

"This boy and girl, separated by stretching miles, are wondering: Why does misery constantly haunt the Negro? In some distant past, had their forebears done some tragic injury to the nation, and was the curse of punishment upon the black race? Had they shirked in their duty as patriots, betrayed their country, denied their national birthright? Had they refused to defend their land against a foreign foe?"

thanks in advance.

In this one I think he's saying/asking what has the black race done to deserve such cruelty and injustice.