text: It's talking about the fact that, during the time in which the story is set, it isn't safe for black people to cross over into the somewhat forbidden world of white people. Even if they could manage to find some people who weren't bigots and were willing to befriend them, there were plenty of other whites who WERE bigoted and might try to hurt them for "infiltrating."\n\n\n\nps-- do your own homework. it's a great book and it'd do you good to read it carefully and really think about it.