Jesse starts to walk out of the jail cell when the man on the floor calls to him. Jesse prods the man until the cell fills 'with a terrible odor' (233), though Jesse knows he's not supposed to kill the man. The man acts like he doesn't hear Jesse as he writhes in pain.

He yells at the man to 'make them stop that singing' (232). Jesse is supposed to get the singing to stop so he decides to use his cattle prod on the man. and the other officers beat the man and bring him to the jail. After arresting him at the protest, Big Jim C. The police had arrested the man a few times before, taking him 'out there at the work farm' (232). Jesse says that Big Jim C., a high-ranking police officer, wanted to make an example of the young man to get the protestors to 'stop that singing' (232).

Jesse calls the man 'one of the ringleaders' (232) of the black people demonstrating outside of the courthouse that day. Jesse begins talking to Grace about the incident with the young black man at the jail, though his wife continues sleeping. He thinks about how he used to bring candy for their kids and wonders whether 'the candy should have been poisoned' (231), as they're now the young adults protesting outside the courthouse. Working as a payment-collector for a mail-order catalog, Jesse recalls how the black customers were 'easy to scare' (231) and cheat out of money. Jesse considers black people 'no better than animals' (231) and blames them for living in conditions of poverty. Jesse wishes he never had to go back to the jailhouse again and hear the protestors' singing, nor participate in a number of brutally violent acts against black arrestees. Jesse fears that now, with black people openly demonstrating against white brutality, even 'the girl herself' (230) might make a move against him. In those cases, Jesse either picks up or arrests 'a black piece' (230) and has sex with her. The car continues past their house.Īs he tries to fall asleep, Jesse reflects that 'like any other man' (230), he sometimes wants 'a little more spice' (230) than his wife can give him. He hears a car approaching their house and reaches for his holster. Jesse can't sleep, though, as he worries about what the black people in their town might do in response to the violence Jesse and the other officers inflicted on the young black man. Jesse lays beside Grace, 'silent, angry, and helpless' (229), thinking of how he can't ask his wife to 'do just a little thing for him, just to help him out' (229) like he could with a black woman, whom he refers to with the n-word. Grace tells Jesse he's been 'working too hard' (229). Grace tries to arouse Jesse to have sex with her but he tells that he's too tired.

Jesse lays in bed with his wife, Grace, that evening.

Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin