The Hate Race: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

In 1985, Maxine starts at the local primary school. The school is close to home; while Cleopatra occasionally drives her in, she usually walks to school with her older sister Cecelia, who is not especially talkative with Maxine despite their small age gap. Although Maxine is only five years old, her experiences in preschool have already taught her to be wary of racism, which she learns to navigate more in primary school by figuring out how to identity teachers and classmates who will advocate for her in the face of racist abuse. Cleopatra sees Maxine as a carefree child, but this is largely because Maxine has already learned that being less visible will make her life easier.

Despite the difficulties of school, Maxine is excited to be picked as Student of the Week, which will let her tell the class about herself and answer questions they have for her. When she’s chosen, she tries to talk about her life as much as she can so that her classmates will know her as more than “the brown student,” but her teacher, Mrs. Kingsley, cuts her off early and subtly accuses her of lying about her parents being an actress and mathematician. She then asks Maxine where she’s from; Maxine, confused, first tells her that she came from her mother’s vagina, then says she was born in Australia and that her parents came here from England. Another student, Matthew, laughs and accuses her of lying. Another student, Rebecca, asks Maxine if has feelings like “normal people.” Maxine says she doesn’t know.

After the Student of the Week Q&A, Mrs. Kingsley passes around a yellow piece of cardstock for everyone to write nice things about Maxine on. The last person to get it is Maxine’s best friend Jennifer, who reads everything else written and spends 10 minutes writing a paragraph before giving it to Maxine. Maxine reads the comments, almost all of which are about Maxine being Black. When she reaches Jennifer’s paragraph, however, she asks to go to the bathroom. In the stall, she reads Jennifer’s comments, which are all about Maxine’s personality, talents, and how she’s Jennifer’s friend. Maxine tears Jennifer’s paragraph off and flushes the rest of the card. Maxine has always loved stories, but she has struggled to find stories involving characters like her. Jennifer’s paragraph is the first time she’s truly seen herself in words.