Noughts and Crosses

 Author: Malorie Blackman

 Question: If what happened to Callum and Sephy happened to you and your friend, what would you do to save your friendship?

Callum and Sephy had to struggle to save their friendship because one was a nought, and the other was a cross. A nought in the book, is a white person and a cross is a black person. Coming from different races, they had to figure out ways to see each other without being seen by there parents, friends and fellow citizens. In our everyday lives today, we still hear about racism and segregation. The reason that people are racist is that they want to stay in their own little communities. People like staying in their own, separate communities because they usually share the same culture, religion and race. This is the positive side of racism, when no one gets hurt and has their own little community.

The negative side of racism is when inocent people are getting hurt and teased because of the way they speak or of their color. This negative racism is demonstrated in the book Noughts and Crosses and still happens around the world. This form of racism happened between Callum and Sephy because Callum was a nought and Sephy was a cross.  What would you do if you and your best friend were not allowed to see one another, because you were from different races. How would that make you feel? How would you save your friendship? It would be extremely hard to see each other because we would have to find a place that no one could find us. It would be difficult to talk to each other at school because everyone would stare and point. 

There is no actual way to save a friendship from racism. but there is a way to STOP racism. If everyone got along with each other and excepted everyone for who they are, less people would be getting hurt. For Callum and Sephy, they were not able to save their friendship, because their parents and friends were not willing to except other people, but today people are willing to except different people. Even if you are Indian, Chinese, African, or American, we are all human beings and all deserve to get treated properly and get respected.