What are the motifs in Black Ice by Lorene Cary?

A recurring idea is "turning out". As Lorene explains, turning out is when a black person uses her/his strong will to stand up to a white person who is not listening to her/him. Lorene's mother does this in a department store when a white manager ignores her complaints. She continues to fight and eventually wins the argument. Turning out is a strategy the black students use at St. Paul's. For example, they have a group called Afro-Am. The group wants to wield power and have a voice over the white students in the school. Yet they are not organized enough to do so. Only one student has been successful in the past and his name is Bernard Cash. He has turned out white students in his own way with charisma and a powerful voice.