David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

just after the Birmingham campaign
ended. “But everything that a white
person says is interpreted by the nuance
of the tone of voice, or maybe the hang
of the head, or the depth of tone, or the
sharpness of the tongue, you know—
things that in the ordinary, normal ethnic
frame of reference would have no
meaning, take on tremendous and deep
and sharp meaning.”
Warren then brought up the trickster
folktales of the African-American
tradition. You can almost see a sly smile
cross Walker’s face: “Yes,” he replied,
he found “pure joy” in poking fun at the
“master,” telling him “one thing that you
knew he wanted to hear and really
meaning something else.”