Black and White

After reading the book I definitely have to say that I think socioeconomic status had to do with what happened to Marcus and Eddie. I do think that it had a lot to do with race issues too, but I think mostly it was SES because of the difference between the lawyers that the boys had. I felt that because of the fact that Eddie could pay for a better lawyer had a big effect on the fact that Marcus got sent to jail way before Eddie. I think that if Marcus would have had a better lawyer, then maybe he would have been able to stay out of jail longer. The way that the book ended, I don't think that Eddie will have as harsh a sentence as Marcus. It seems like maybe Eddie will get off with a sentence like only a year in jail. It's very troubling because this kind of thing can be seen happening all over the place and I think that in smaller towns it's less about SES and more about racism. I just think that overall, the kind of thing that happened to Marcus and Eddie would the same result, but for different reasons, in other places.