Arthur can still recall an impromptu “debate” in his freshman dormitory. “Almost every other white kid who lived in our hall” was there, and it was clear that their opinions of Black people were almost exclusively based on the racist caricatures they’d seen on tv — from minstrel shows like Amos ‘n Andy to the anti-Black news coverage of the riots exploding across American cities at the time. 

“Oh, you’re different,” his white classmates would condescend to him. “You’re not like other Negroes.” 

Our monologuing  zombie is quoting from a real historical letter by a white Catholic Chicago woman writing around the same time. The ideas conveyed in her letter echoed what Arthur and his friends had to put up with from their white peers and professors at Notre Dame.