The Black Table is Still There: Lawrence Otis Graham BBS 1st Year Patterns for College Writing

 

The ‘Black Table’ Is Still There by Lawrence Otis Graham (page 188)

About the Essayist

Lawrence Otis Graham (December 25, 1961 – February 19, 2021) was an American attorney, political analyst, and bestselling author known for his work on race, class, and privilege in America. He wrote more than a dozen books, including the widely acclaimed Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Graham also wrote for major publications such as The New York Times, Time, and Essence. He was a frequent commentator on television and advocated for racial equality and social justice throughout his career. Graham passed away in 2021 at the age of 59.

The Main Theme of the Essay

In his essay “The Black Table Is Still There,” Lawrence Otis Graham explores the enduring presence of racial segregation in social settings, even within integrated schools. Reflecting on a visit to his former junior high school, he observes that Black and white students still sit separately in the cafeteria, just as they did years ago. This self-segregation, symbolized by the “Black table,” reveals how deep-rooted cultural divisions and shared experiences continue to shape social behavior. Graham also reflects on his own past, when he distanced himself from the Black table to fit into white society, highlighting the internal conflict faced by many African Americans navigating identity and acceptance. The essay underscores the idea that true integration goes beyond laws and policies—it requires confronting the subtle, persistent forces that keep people apart.

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Analysis of the Essay ‘The Black Table is Still There’

Everyone wants to fit in. Lawrence Otis Graham is most notably known for writing the article "Invisible Man" on his encounters and experiences with racism as a busboy. Soon after, he writes about the "black table" and his experience. The "Black Table is Still’ covers Graham's experience from when he was in junior high to the time he was 27 and went back to junior high 14 years later for a class reunion.  What he comes to expect is change, but what he finds is nothing close to it. Lawrence Graham is a corporate lawyer and author. In this article, he discusses his concept of racism and how it developed from the time he was 13 to the time he was 27. 14 Years later at his class reunion, his concept changes, before he blames the black table and as he returns, he blames society.

"What was wrong with me? What was I afraid of?" Graham thinks to himself. He says at the time wanted to think of it as a heroic act to sit with his white friends, an act of integration. Now he acknowledges that it was due to the simple fact that he would not sit at the black table. He would lose his white friends if he sat at the black table he sat at the black table, he would lose his white friends. If he sat at the black table, it would make an anti-white and racist statement. He was not afraid to sit at the black table but disliked it. He says that at this time, he blamed the blacks, that they were forming a barrier between them and the whites.

Lawrence Graham returns 14 years later to discover what has changed about society and racism. He figures out that society has failed him and that it has changed very little. His perspective when he was younger was all wrong. Even then, he was right about the segregation but didn't see the full spectacle of the ordeal: "I realize now how wrong I was."  Graham realizes the black table was not the only segregated table there was every table was segregated. He says when he looks back, he sees it a lot differently, seeing the two different skin colours seemed so different. Every table was segregated, there were athletes, Jewish boys, Jewish girls, Irish, black, and metal heads. He says being a person of colour sitting with the white kids attracted its analysis and disrespect. It got him called names like "Oreo" and "white boy".

The scrutiny was not just from the blacks, it was also from the whites who asked why he didn't sit with the blacks, or why all those black kids sat with each other. The black table, like the other tables, is a statement on society on how it has changed, which is very little. From what I have gathered from Mr. Graham is the realization of society’s progress for 14 years. He learns that it is close to nothing. He learns that people segregate themselves and create race and group barriers themselves instead of trying for multiethnic integration. He found what he was doing was right, but that preexisting barriers create situations where people are set into certain groups and social stigmás create an awkward personal dilemma where you have to abandon "your" people, or break society's metaphorical chains and join other groups.

He and I are baffled that even after 14 years, the 27th table in his junior high school is still called the black table. In the end, I believe he believes he did the right thing and wishes others could do the same. In conclusion, Graham is disappointed in society. Society has not done any justice to itself in that people are still segregated after 14 years. He made the right choice, integrating himself into a different group, which even then came with its issues. He says if you are black and are friends with white people, you are a white sympathizer, or if a white kid sat with the black kids, he would be a black sympathizer. They couldn't just be friends, even after 14 years. They had to be black or white, grey was never an option. At the end of the day, not a thing has changed for Graham. I think if Graham could, he could seek people to co-exist as people and not as races and groups, but I also believe he thinks it couldn't ever be that way.         

Comprehension  

1.     What exactly is a “black table”?

The phrase “black table” has two meanings. On the surface level, it means a table in black color. Next, its connotative meaning is racial segregation prevalent in American society.

2.     Graham says that on a recent visit to his old junior high school, he “came upon something that (he) never expected to see again.” Why do you think the sight of the all-black table was such a surprise to him?

He was very much surprised to see the “all-black table” still there in his former high school. The all-black lunch table in the cafeteria is strong proof that only a few changes have taken place in American society since the 1970s, the all-black lunch table in the cafeteria is strong proof that the remains of racial segregation, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, color discrimination are still there in America. The American government has started the integration process in American public schools since the 1950s. Various laws have made segregation illegal and unconstitutional. Despite all these efforts, American society is still divided in the name of race, color, and origin. When the writer saw the “all-black table,” which is a sign of segregation in his former high school, he was very surprised.

3.     In Graham’s junior high school, what factors determined where students sat?

The writer of this essay, Lawrence Otis Graham, attended a junior high school where most of the students were white. Since the 1950s, the American government has strongly supported integration in public schools. Supreme Court in 1954 found segregation of public schools unconstitutional, Civil Rights Act of 1964 required the public school system to implement integration programs. Due to all these efforts, data on African-American students attending desegregated schools jumped from 12 percent to 44 percent. But in the 1990s, the Supreme Court began to lift desegregation orders. Then the study in 2003 showed that two-thirds of African-American students attended schools that are full of minorities and 15 percent attended schools that are 99 to 100 percent minority.

The data above presented proves that there are two reasons for segregation. One, the legacy of racial discrimination, color discrimination or discrimination among people on various pretexts is still there in our society and next, we like to be segregated. Normally we do not mix up with all the people in society. We mix with others if our interest matches. Segregation is seen when we make a group of similar-minded people. So there was not only a black table but lots of other tables like an Italian table, a Jewish girl’s table, a Jewish boy’s table, a table of middle-class Irish boys, and a table of kids who were into heavy metal music.

4.     Why didn’t Graham sit at the “black table” when he was in junior high school?

While he was a student, he attended a school, where most of the students were white. He never sat at the black table’ in the cafeteria simply because over there he didn’t want to lose his white friends and he didn’t want to be called a racist or by sitting there he would be making an anti-white statement.

5.     When he was a junior high school student who did Graham blame for the existence of the exclusively black lunch table? Whom or what does he now see as the cause of the table’s existence?

In the beginning, when he saw “the black table” in the cafeteria, he got angry. He thought that the US government is doing the right things by enacting an integration program but the African-American students themselves do not like to be integrated. He believed that the black kids were the reason why other kids didn’t mix more. He believed that the self-segregation of black is the main cause of white bigotry.

But he was wrong to blame black students for such conditions. Now he believes that there are two reasons for the existence of the “black table”. One, the legacy of racial discrimination, color discrimination or discrimination among people on various pretexts is still there in our society and next, we like to be segregated. Normally we do not mix up with all the people in society. We mix with others if our interest matches. Segregation is seen when we make a group of similar-minded people.

Purpose and Audience

1.     What is Graham's thesis?

Graham's thesis is that even with mandatory integration, groups will still segregate themselves based on culture or common interests.

2.     Rather than introducing outside supporting information, such as statistics, interviews with educators, or sociological Studies-Graham relies on his own opinions and on anecdotal evidence to support his thesis. Do you think this is enough? Explain your reasoning.

Even though Graham is making a broad statement about self-segregation, the essay is largely about his own experience and how he has changed over the years. He is reflecting on how his attitudes on how he should navigate diverse spaces as a black man have evolved. He notes how he used to feel a sort of resentment toward the black students who engaged in self-segregation and talks about the factors that have prompted him to view things differently. Because the essay is so focused on personal reflection, it does not need additional supporting information.

3.     Why does Graham give background information about himself in this essay, for example, in paragraphs 2 and 12? How does this information affect your reaction to him as a person? Your reaction to his essay? Do you think he needs to supply additional information about himself or his junior high school? If so, what kind of information would be helpful?

The background information that Graham provides gives a helpful perspective on a few different levels. Firstly, the information about the types of activities that Graham was involved with during his youth shows that he had a relatively privileged upbringing for an African American boy from his generation. He mentions that he was often "the first and only black person" in many of the activities he was involved with. This helps to explain why he might have felt reluctant to join the "black table" and resentful of those who did. Graham had been integrating himself into non-black spaces for most of his life, so it felt more natural for him to continue doing so in the cafeteria: he had difficulty understanding why the other kids couldn't do the same.

The information in paragraph 12 shows that despite his frequent involvement in "integrated" spaces, he still faced prejudice, even when he didn't notice it. This information shows what a difference perspective makes when analyzing the types of self-segregation Graham discusses

4.     Do you think Graham's primary purpose here is to criticize a system he despises, to change his audience's views about segregated lunch tables, or to justify his behavior? Explain your conclusion.

It seems that Graham is aiming to change his audience's views about segregated lunch tables. He notes that all-black tables receive more scrutiny than other similarly segregated tables and believes that this is unfair. By pointing out how widespread self-segregation is among different groups, as well as how constant the phenomenon has remained over time, he is helping the reader to understand that it is not exclusive to black students.

5.     In paragraph 5, Graham tells readers that he usually entered the cafeteria with a white friend; in paragraph 12, he reveals that his best friend was white. Why do you suppose he wants his audience to know these facts?

These facts are important to understanding the context of the story. Knowing that his circle of friends was primarily white makes Graham's choice not to sit at the "black table" make sense; he just wanted to sit with his friends.

Graham's closeness with a white friend circle caused conflict for him, both internally and externally, as alluded to in the article. On the surface, it would seem like wanting to sit with your closest friends would be an obvious, unquestioned choice, but this decision was questioned both by his white and black classmates. His black classmates saw Graham's decision as a form of betrayal, and his white students wondered why he wasn't sitting with the other black students, Graham himself felt like if he did choose to sit at the black table, he would upset his white friends.

Style and Structure

1.     Throughout his essay, Graham asks rhetorical questions. Identify as many of these questions as you can. Are they necessary? Provocative? Distracting? Explain.

Paragraphs 3 and 7 are comprised entirely of rhetorical questions.

Paragraph 10 contains two: "Is that what the all-black table means? Is it a rejection of white people?"

Paragraph 13 contains one: "What was I thinking?"

Paragraph 14 contains one: "Weren't these tables just as segregationist as the black table?"

Since Graham's essay is quite self-reflective, the rhetorical questions fit well into the essay. He includes them to show the types of questions he was struggling with himself each day in middle school; he still struggles with many of them. These rhetorical questions help the reader to understand what Graham was going through and also prompt the reader to think about these questions themselves.

2.     In paragraph 16, Graham quotes his long-ago classmates. What do these quotations reveal? Should he have included more of them?

Graham says in paragraph 1 that "the black table" was a "source of fear and dread" for him throughout junior high school. The quotes he includes in paragraph 16 help to explain where this fear and dread came from. No matter where Graham sat, he felt that he couldn't win; he was criticized either way. If he sat at the black table, he felt like he would be rejecting his white friends, who didn't understand "why all those black kids, sit together". On the other hand, not sitting at the black table resulted in scrutiny from his black classmates and more questions from white students.

These quotations reveal that Graham's anxiety about these segregated tables was not simply internal conflict. His choices were being analyzed by his peers. Including more quotations would have helped to make this clearer, but the essay works just fine as it is.

3.     Is Graham's focus on finding causes, describing effects, or both? Explain.

 This essay is primarily about finding causes. Graham first discusses the causes that contributed to his choice not to sit at the black table. These causes included his desire to sit with his white friends, fear of losing his white friends, and his belief that the black students' self-segregation was contributing to bigotry. Graham also discusses possible causes for the existence of the black table; he talks about how he once attributed it to the black students, but later attributes it to peoples' natural tendency to self-segregate.

4.     This essay uses first-person pronouns and contractions. Do you think Graham would have more credibility if he used a less personal and more formal style?

Graham's essay is a very personal one in which he draws upon his own experiences to back up his thesis. His informal writing style is well suited to the content of his essay.

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