Tensions were strained on the day that The Brown Bomber stood in the ring against his white opponent. Maya Angelou's passage "Chapmion of the World" takes place in her Uncles cram-packed store in the 1930s. Angelou clearly tells of the heat in the air that did not just from the closeness of the perspiring bodies, but the anticipation that raged within the onlookers. Everyone held their breath; this wasn't just a fight between two men, but a fight between two races. It is obvious in this story that Angelou wanted to highlight how much the black community needed Joe Louis, their Brown Bomber, to come out on the top. Black on white, the fight was brutal. In the end, Joe did exactly what the blacks needed him to do. He proved to them all that black people were no less than those that had had the audacity to call themselves "masters" over them. They were powerful, they were strong, and no one would trample them. This was the mindset those that witnessed the fight celebrated with. Skin color doesn't make the person, but if there is one thing I have always been ashamed of my race for is their oppression of the black race. Stories from the past that tell of blacks standing up and proving that they were as good as us have always had an affect on me. We were all created equal. Joe Louis's victory rubbed that in the white communities' face that day. Black or white, any one can be "Champion of the World".
I liked what you said: "Black or white, any one can be 'Champion of the World.'" Color or race should never matter to anyone. It is inspiring though how people have overcome their differences in race to accomplish great things in life.
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