While listening to the song I came across the lyrics "Rub me wrong and I get pissed..." I immediately associated these lyrics with the scene where Newt and his uncle Rob are selling brooms. These lyrics suit the scene well because when Newt is called a "nigger" by the little white boy he reacts rashly, pummeling him. While it's understandable to how Newt reacted, it is not the right thing and it won't lessen the amount of racism that exists in Cherokee Flats. Most people believe that it is the white boys fault, although that is not entirely true either. The naive white boy learned these ideas from his mother, but ignorance is not excusable.
Another scene that relates well to this song is the scene where Miss McClinock changes her biased views of black students.. The lyrics that I thought worked well with this scene are "Change of brain for Mr. Bigot..." Although Miss McClinock wasn't really a bigot, these lyrics go well with the change that takes place in her thoughts and ideas. Miss McClinock wasn't to be blamed fully though, because she was told by the Principal before Mr. Hall that she was to tell black students that they would be nothing except porters and maids, that no matter how hard they studied or how intelligent they were, they would not succeed in life. And like the boy who called Newt a "nigger", it was something that they were taught growing up. But once again, the ignorance of one is not excusable for the discrimination of another.
In conclusion, this song and this theme of racism fit well together. Sara Winger told Newt that, "Cherokee Flats is sorta like a fruit tree. Some of the people are good and some of them are bad – just like the fruit on a tree."(35). She wanted Newt to take the good out of life and learn from the bad, but not let it bring him down. Racism was one of the things that she wanted Newt to learn from, and it is something that everyone, not just Newt, can learn from.