Violence as culture
Although the story of this memoir is not an attempt at pity, the memoirist is honest about the culture of violence in his upbringing. This willingness to be violent marked his community in school, in the street, and even in his home. Even his mother would often attack him when she disliked his behavior. The struggle between violence and peace is one that scarred his mind and emotions, so that later in life, he still felt the wounds that physical violence caused. He was forced to live in fear.
Academia as a symbol
The system around him was broken, so in an attempt at love, his mother would make Layman speak intelligently. She required him to be an academic, teaching him what she could, then sending him to school and policing his performance. This put him at odds with his community, and he struggled to figure out whether he should try to fit in or whether it would be better to accept his mother's guidance and find a way out of the 'hood through academics.
The death threats
When Laymon writes his publications about systemic injustice and racism, he receives death threats in the mail. This is a literal symbol of malice, because it makes him perfectly aware that the problem is not necessarily just lack of knowledge; there are those who are working actively to oppress his community. He recognizes the fear tactics from the culture of violence and he realizes that there is a silent war around systemic injustice.
The struggle for tenure
Another kind of injustice arises when Laymon tries to attain tenure. Although many people are happy to have him on their staff, they rarely offer tenure. He struggles for years to get tenure, wondering what racism might mean in that struggle, watching white people attain tenure around him without any hiccups. He realizes that there are silent prejudices at work preventing some people from taking him seriously.
Violation
The rape of Laymon's grandmother is a true fact, but it is also a demonstration of injustice, because she didn't see justice for that crime. This can be seen as an instance of injustice in the patriarchy, because crimes against women were not handled with appropriate severity. The horror of such knowledge shaped his young life and no doubt his entire life. The sorrow of knowing a family member has suffered thusly is sometimes unmanageable for him.
