Answering Doc’s question, Jared says that the United States has reached racial equality, claiming that people who complain about racism are “just being divisive.” Sarah-Jane (or SJ, a white girl who is Justyce’s partner on the debate team) takes issue with this statement, trying to show Jared that he only thinks racism is a thing of the past because he himself has never experienced it. The only black people in the room are Doc, Justyce, Manny, who’s also close friends with an overly-confident white boy named Jared. In his Societal Evolution class, Justyce’s favorite teacher, Doc, asks the class if they think the United States has achieved racial equality. What’s more, Justyce learns that his best friend Manny’s cousin, Quan Banks, shot and killed Officer Castillo the other night and is now awaiting trial in juvenile detention. A grand jury has recently failed to indict the officer who killed Shemar Carson, and Justyce can’t stop thinking about how his own run-in with the police could have easily been fatal, like Shemar’s. Justyce was eventually let go, but he now feels unsettled, since he never thought he’d find himself in “this kind of situation.” In his diary, he writes about a young black boy named Shemar Carson, who was shot by a white police officer in Nevada even though he was unarmed. King, saying that he’s a scholarship student at Braselton Preparatory Academy, is ranked fourth in his class, is captain of the debate team, has high test scores, and believes he has a bright future “despite growing up in a ‘bad’ area.” Unfortunately, though, “none of that mattered” the night before, when Officer Castillo arrested him.

Martin Luther King, Jr., explaining that he admires the way Dr.

Transitioning from the scene of Justyce’s arrest, Nic Stone gives readers a glimpse of Justyce’s diary, in which he writes a letter to Dr. Justyce tries to explain that he was only helping Melo, but Castillo punches him in the face and tells him not to “say shit,” calling him a “punk ass” who “couldn’t resist the pretty white girl who’d locked her keys in her car.” Just then, a police car drives up and a white officer named Tommy Castillo jumps out and grabs Justyce, handcuffing him and slamming his head against the car. Still, he takes her keys and maneuvers her into the backseat. He knows Melo is drunk and wants to make sure she won’t drive, but she tells him to go away when he finds her. He’s wearing a hooded sweatshirt and is on his way to find Melo, his ex-girlfriend. Seventeen-year-old Justyce McAllister walks through a wealthy neighborhood outside Atlanta, Georgia one night.

Dearmartin