Fillette offers an anecdote regarding one instance during his childhood when he became aware of stark class differences in Mobile, Alabama. Noting that he felt uncomfortable about the privileges accorded his social class, Fillette explains that he was unaware of any poor white people in the community. Instead, he understood that the vast majority of impoverished people were African American. Later in his life, he began to draw connections between that experience and his understanding of how issues related to race and class were very much interconnected.