I cried a lot when reading this book...fair warning.
I read about Jason Reynolds in a review of his newest book Long Way Down. I knew this was an author I needed to introduce my son to and that I would need to read along with him. So for his birthday a week ago I got him this one. I just finished it and my face is still damp from the tears and I can still feel the sobs in my body as I type this. My son is a few pages behind me so he will finish today too. I will post a review by him when he can put together the words to do it, I expect he will be as wrecked as I am. But as painful as this is, we have had some amazing conversations. He is a true social justice champion and this is an area of social justice we as a family are passionate about. And only partly because I am the proud (white) mother of a proud young black man. My son is a proud young (white) man who loves and worries over his older brother, a brother he knows he could lose for no other reason than the color of his skin. My 12 year old is too aware of the fact that he has a different set of rules to live by when he walks out of our home should he ever be confronted by a police officer.
Ok...so my review of this book: Bottom line READ IT!!! NOW!!!
all american boys is told in two voices, Rashad and Quinn. Both are high school students. Both are on the school basketball team. Both are a little girl crazy. And that is where the similarities end. Because Quinn is White and Rashad is Black.
Rashad opens the story telling us who he is and how he ended up a statistic. Rashad is brutalized by a police officer for no reason...other than he is prejudged to have done something wrong.
Quinn tells us who he is and how he ended up seeing Rashad become a statistic. Quinn sees the officer beating up Rashad while Rashad is on the ground in handcuffs.
Quinn knows the officer. The officer is a family friend who has an important role in Quinn's life. Quinn is scared and angry and now woke.
Rashad is scared and angry and feels changed and helpless.
The story is powerful and well told. And an important read. The suggested age on the lower end of the books description is 12. But it depends on your child's age, reading ability, and the content being something they can deal with and talk about. There are some mentions of kissing, drinking, shoplifting, death of a parent, violence. Nothing is majorly descriptive other than Rashad's attack. While this is a "teen" read I think as an adult it was not too simple or young and everyone should be reading this and talking about this.
A quote that has stuck with me and I will share with you sums up perfectly why I will continue to say "BlackLivesMatter" and mot "all" and why it is more important than ever for White people to say this:
"Look, if there are people who are scared of the police every day of their lives, I am going to live in fear for them"
And let me also say, I know not every cop is doing this, and many are speaking out about it...but it happens too many times and it has to stop.
(Finished November 22, 2017)
No comments:
Post a Comment