Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-3146930-20140708014442/@comment-24994749-20140718022020

I agree with Diego that I doubt Blake or the majority of faunus had happy childhoods or teenagerhoods. But I wouldn't say little faunus presence means the faunus population is small. We have only seen down town Vale and a top class academy, which sound like places for middle and up social classes. The black were majority in Africa, yet the white oppressed them effectively through the apartheid system.

The island thing, if it doesn't turn out it was similar to the Nazi "final solution", then it can also simply be the humans not caring and trying to compress the faunus population into the smallest, most faraway corner of Remnant.

Now, I wouldn't call Blake running away an over reaction.

For most of the volume, she was rather, silent and just stood in the background of the group. Considering she called herself "A criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow." and the lines Weiss had been dropping about the White Fang and the faunus:

"They've been in war with my family for years. War as in actual bloodshed."

"I've watched family, friends disappear. Board members... executed. An entire train car full of Dust stolen."

"They are a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers."

And Weiss' reaction when Blake slipped (backing away in horror) plus that the Black Trailer implies she was, at the very least, involved in the train robbery; for all she knew, they could have called the police right away. Remember, the whole relationship she had built with her team mates was based on posing as just another human student.

She is after all, in an environment where her race doesn't seem to enjoy the same civil rights as humans, a faunus being openly physically assaulted prompts one or two words of disapproval by the witness but none, nor teams RWBY or JNPR, nor any of the many random people having lunch stood up for Velvet, making open racist comments in a class, in front of the targeted race doesn't get you more than some sass from two classmates and some extra homework by the teacher (which is the same a dude sleeping in class got); add to that her experiences in the protests as a child. I think it was logical she concluded she wouldn't be able to talk her way with her team and explain things or expect them to understand, all of her experience said she wouldn't.