Asian American Studies Commons^™

The Chinese In Mississippi: A Race In-Between, Vivian Wu Wong

Trotter Review

There is this shot in the opening scene of the movie, Mississippi Burning, where you see two water fountains. One is broken, and chipped, and water is dripping from it. The other is modern, and shining. A white guy goes up to the nice one, and the black kid goes up to the old one. I remember saying to myself "If I was in the scene, where would I drink?”

As a kid, I remember going to the theater and not knowing where I was supposed to sit. Blacks were segregated then. Colored people had to sit upstairs, and …