After the move, one of Jackie's jobs became going to the bakery at the end of the block, where the baker gave them old bread for free. Also, the milkman dropped off milk at the end of his daily run. Sometimes these free groceries were so plentiful that the family shared them with numerous other poor families in the neighborhood.
But the kind and helpful neighbors were outnumbered by those who were prejudiced and hateful. For instance, the folks across the street often found reasons to call the police about the Robinsons when the children were doing "terrible" things like playing on the street. Some neighbors went inside and slammed their doors when the Robinsons came out of their own home. Neighborhood children, and even adults, made catcalls and hurled insults.
To avoid some of this unpleasantness, Mallie told her children to walk the long way to the store. She taught them to demonstrate to those who harassed them that they might cross the room, the schoolyard, or the street to avoid conflict, but they would not go away. And the children obeyed. However, Jackie couldn't help responding to the jeers of "Nigger, nigger, get off the street," with the worst he could think of: "Cracker, cracker, shut up, cracker!" For those who threw rocks at him, Jackie replied with well-aimed stones of his own, good practice for throwing baseballs later on.
At school, Jackie and his siblings were always extra neat and clean, and they demonstrated exemplary manners. While this behavior did not stop the evidences of prejudice, it satisfied Mallie. Jackie was an average student, but he excelled in sports. In fact, classmates "bribed" him to be on their baseball, soccer, and football teams, paying in sandwiches and occasionally even a dollar. He was the hardest to hit in dodgeball. He cleaned his playmates out of their marbles. He almost always won a handball game.
But Jackie started to "go wrong." He became part of a gang of minorities--mild compared to those of today's delinquents, but still a gang--and got in trouble with the law several times for throwing mud clods at cars, swiping fruit from stands, and snitching from local stores. During his teens, Jackie was the first one questioned by the police if there was trouble on the streets.
