How would you compare and contrast Stacey's friendship with Jeremy to his friendship with T.J., as represented in the following quote from Roll of...

In Chapter 7, Stacey gives his new coat away to T.J. after T.J. makes fun of it and says that Stacey looks like a preacher while wearing it. Uncle Hammer lectures Stacey:

"If you ain't got the brains of a flea to see that this T.J. fellow made a fool of you, then you’ll never get anywhere in this world. It's tough out there, boy, and as long as there are people, there's gonna be somebody trying to take what you got and trying to drag you down. It's up to you whether you let them or not" (page numbers vary by edition).

T.J. is clearly not a very good friend because he lies to Stacey to get Stacey's new coat for himself. When Mr. Avery tries to have T.J. return the coat to Stacey, Stacey says that T.J. can keep it. T.J. then boasts about his new coat continuously. Therefore, it is clear that T.J. was lying about what he thought of the coat on Stacey so that he could have it for himself. He is selfish in addition to being a liar.

Jeremy Simms, on the other hand, visits the Logan family on Christmas and gives freely of what he has to them. He gives them a bag of nuts and gives Stacey a wooden flute that he made himself. Stacey has not given Jeremy anything, but Jeremy still wants to be friends with him. Jeremy, unlike T.J., is a true friend who likes Stacey no matter what Stacey gives him materially in return. While the other members of the Simms family are racist, Jeremy is not. He even endures beatings from his family to visit the Logan children. 

Papa tells Stacey, "Now you could be right 'bout Jeremy making a much finer friend than T.J. ever will be. The trouble is, down here in Mississippi, it costs too much to find out... So I think you'd better not try" (page numbers vary by edition). Papa says this to Stacey because relationships between white and black people were too complicated at that time and place, and Papa fears that Jeremy will grow up to turn on Stacey, even though Stacey thinks he won't do so. While Jeremy is clearly a better friend to Stacey, they simply can't be friends in Mississippi at that time because of the difficulties of having inter-racial friendships.