He was a little boy, he was trying to make his way in the world, trying to understand what was going on in his world. He faces the fact that his little world is just his world, it's not the world as a whole. He lives in an isolated community, much like the one I grew up in. Other than that, the grocers were black, the insurance man was black, the doctors, the dentist. Everybody was black.
Race is one of the most volatile issues in our culture.
In both your books, the history of race relations and the fact of racism are central. I think the story can be told, and it has to be told. I think it's terrible that more isn't taught about civil rights in the schools. It might be too close, still. The climax of each book involves a male character's emotional reckoning.