On the subway ride home my father signed, 'I am a deaf man in a hearing world. All the time I must show hearing people that I am a man as well. A man as good as them. Maybe even better...Jackie Robinson is a black man in the white man's baseball world. All the time he must show white people that he is a man. A man as good as them. Maybe even better. No matter that his skin is a black color. The color of his skin is not important. Onle what Jackie does on the ball field is important. Just when I thought my father had finished speaking, his hands spoke to me sorrowfully. 'Very hard for a deaf man. Very hard for a black man. Must fight all the time. No rest. Never. Sad.' My father didn't sign another word. He just stared into the eyes of the subway riders looking rudely at him, until they sheepishly broke off eye contact - every last one of them" -Page 204 of Hands of My Father
