Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Like Starr in The Hate U Give Justyce is trying to find his voice, to be his true self, in a split world that both says they want him to be and they don't want him to try too hard to move on and up. 

Jus is a good kid. He is really smart and in the 3rd grade was placed in an accelerated learning program that landed him in the best High School around. He tells us he does his best to be a good guy, he doesn't dress like he's a gang member, he would never wear his pants around his butt to show off his underwear, and he loves and respects his mother and other adults. But he is painfully aware that he is one of only a few Black students at his school, another being his best friend Manny. Manny has known most of these kids since kindergarten because unlike Jus and his single mom, Manny's parents are rich so until High School they were in different school systems. 

After good guy Jus goes to rescue his on again off again girlfriend Melo, who happens to look white but is biracial, from driving drunk a police officer assumes Jus is up to know good and is harming her. The officer is unnecessarily rough with Jus, and he ends up in too tight handcuffs for a few hours. When he is released he doesn't get so much as an apology for the "misunderstanding." But it opens his eyes more, he begins to see and hear things he didn't pick up on or unconsciously ignored before. He also starts a project to restudy the writing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and writes out his thoughts and feelings in the form of a journal of letters addressed to Martin. 

SJ is a white, Jewish girl at school who is Justyce's debate team partner. She is smart and outspoken about the racial injustice she sees around her. She wants to do better, be better, and it isn't easily accepted by her classmates. And she and Jus have feelings for each other. This allows a powerful story thread with his mom, because she has always made it clear she would never accept him dating a white girl. She has been so hurt and changed by discriminations she has seen and faced she doesn't like or trust white people much and for sure not as a life partner for her son. This plays a part in why Jus is so hesitant to acknowledge any feelings he has for SJ. It also opens the line of thought- can we really be surprised given the history of Black people in the US, if they feel like we White people are out to get them?

Dear Martin is gut wrenching. It made me so angry. It broke my heart. It pretty much shredded me, but then in the last few pages it filled me with hope. It strengthened my resolve to use the privilege that, unjustly so, comes with my skin to speak out against it, against discrimination, against racism, and be an ally. I am still learning the best way to do this, and a big part of it is reading books, fiction and nonfiction, that will help me better understand what is happening even when I don't see or hear it, to listen to the stories of those living the injustice. Then talking about it with other white people, and not letting others get away with making "jokes" and being asshats. 

(Finished July 29, 2018)