A story circulated about a white woman in San Francisco who refused to sit next to a Black man on a streetcar, even after he made space for her. She claimed she wouldn't sit beside a draft dodger who was Black and said her son was fighting in Iwo Jima. Her attitude highlighted racial prejudice and class division at the time.
The man responded quietly and with dignity, pulling his sleeve to reveal he was missing an arm. He suggested she ask her son to look for his arm, which he had left elsewhere, emphasizing the unjust nature of her prejudice and advocating for respect and understanding.