Such a small book, and yet so impactful.
Do you ever just start a book and think ‘Oh you, you’re going to be a favourite’? Because that’s exactly what I felt when I opened this book and read the first chapter. By the second I was crying, and smiling, laughing, and in so much pain.
This book is mostly about Justyce, a seventeen-year-old black boy, trying to understand where he stands in his own life, what is opinion on racial inequalities is, what does it mean for him to be black in this white supremacist world. And it sucks. So much. Because he’s surrounded by these white ‘I don’t see colour’ dudes who think racial inequalities don’t exist anymore and can’t even realise they benefit of white privileges.
Justyce is a complex character, he goes through such an important journey throughout this book : going from this ‘let’s do anything to be integrated’ kid to this ‘I’m done being someone I’m not’ one. And it’s so heartbreaking to witness this journey, because Justyce has to face such a harsh reality, it hurts him every single of it.
The moment that really changes everything for him is when he’s handcuffed fore helping his drunk ex-girlfriend to sit in her car … and a cop assumes he’s carjacking. Because he’s black and wearing a hoodie. How fucked up is that? He’s automatically assumed threatening because of his skin colour, don’t tell me we’re all equals because that’s bullshit and you know it. Justyce knows it, every single people of colour me included know it, so why is it so hard for a huge number — if not the majority — of white people to understand there is an actual problem going on and it won’t get better until they start opening their eyes? I’m not sorry for being harsh in my words, because the really is harsher, and I’m not there to make racist people feel comfortable. None of us are.
This book has a lot of extremely interesting side characters, and I have to admit my two favourites were SJ and Doc. SJ is this white Jewish girl, she’s so fierce and head-strong, she’s aware of her privileges and uses them to make this fucked up world a better place. Doc is a biracial teacher, and he gives the best advices, you could just write them all on post-its and put them on your walls because trust me you need them. But there is also this one character I didn’t expect to end up liking : Jared. Asshole Jared. Mr-I’m-better-than-you-because-I’m-white Jared. It’s interesting to see how something awful that happens in this book affects him for the better. But people of colour shouldn’t have to suffer for white people to open their eyes and start acting like decent people.
“You can’t change how other people think and act, but you’re in full control of you. When it comes down to it, the only question that matters is this: If nothing in the world ever changes, what type of man are you gonna be?”
5 / 5
That’s it for today, I’ll see you soon, have a nice day guys 🌻
a soft coffee kid™ 