The Sellout

Me’s work, which he undertakes at times deliberately and at times by accident, is to make visible the ongoing racism that has been rendered invisible by a false social progress. After Me segregates Dickens, the community improves. This improvement does not imply that segregation in itself is a good thing. Dickens has always been segregated, just as it’s always been deprived of investment and resources. The difference is that now, that systemic injustice has a visible cause, and as such it brings the community together, as Marpessa says, serving as a source of solidarity. As Me segregates Marpessa’s bus first, the progress begins there. Speaking on Marpessa’s behalf, Charisma notices people,

[s]aying hello when they got on, thank you when they got off. There’s no gang fighting. Crip, Blood, or cholo, they press the Stop Request button one time and one fucking time only. You know where the kids go do their homework? Not home, not the library, but the bus. That’s how safe it is (147).

The racist signs bring civility and safety to the bus, and, once Me installs the fake white school across from Chaff Middle School, the segregation puts Chaff on a path to becoming “the fourth-highest-ranked public school in the county within the next year” (232).