Episode 27: Banned Book Review #6: Dear Martin

Are you doing these critical things to help your child succeed academically? Take the quiz now to find out the important actions you can take to enhance your child's education. Go to my website, liberationthrougheducation.com quiz and take the quiz today. Foreign welcome to another episode of K12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr. Kim Fields, former corporate manager turned education researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as the micro discriminations that I had as an African American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to know how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. If you're looking to find out more about the current topics in education that could affect you or your children and the practical actions that you can take to address these issues, then you're in the right place. In today's episode, I will review another book from the Banned Book list, this one being Dear Martin by Nick Stone. The intent of this and other monthly book reviews is to examine, to analyze, to investigate why these books were on the banned book list for K 12 public school reading. I'll continue to review these books until I complete the list of books that you're most interested in and that resonate with you. Here's my summary of this book. The main characters are Justice McAllister, who's a smart 17 year old high school student at Braselton Preparatory School Manny or Emmanuel Rivers, who is Justice's best friend Melo Taylor, who is Justice's on again, off again girlfriend and Sarah Jane Friedman, who becomes Justice's new girlfriend. The setting is Atlanta, Georgia in the early morning hours. On one occasion while justice was helping his ex girlfriend Melo, he wound up on the ground in handcuffs. He was helping his ex girlfriend, who was visibly drunk, by not allowing her to drive home. A police officer thought he was trying to break into her car and he handcuffed Justice. He recalled this incident in the first letter to Dr. Martin Luther King and also mentioned a young black male by the name of Shemar Carson who was shot and killed in Nevada by a white police officer. He was unsure about how he actually felt about his own encounter with the police officer, although he did feel that it changed him. In his letter he admits that he wanted to be like Dr. Martin Luther King and do what he did. The White Privilege Mindset of the majority of students at Braselton Preparatory School there were only eight Black students in the entire school made justice feel uncomfortable about his black experiences. In his letter to Dr. Martin Luther King, justice wonders what Dr. King would have done with the situation being what it is today. He wondered if he would still have managed to be dignified in his approach. Justice wanted to know how he should handle people who believe that America is colorblind. When justice got accepted into Yale University, a classmate at his prep school, Brad, felt slighted because he got a deferred acceptance. He made references to racial privilege and affirmative action, to which justice was upset. When justice goes home to tell his mom that he got accepted at Yale, a gang member from the neighborhood tells him that that he wouldn't be accepted by white people at Yale. Justice asked Dr. Martin Luther King in another letter why it is that people were always trying to pull him down, that there just seemed to be people who didn't want him to succeed. He asked Dr. King where he got the courage to keep climbing in the face of feeling unsupported. He even asked Dr. King about a love triangle and advice. In Another letter to Dr. King, justice says that people look at him and see him as a threat instead of a human being. He asked Dr. King what was he supposed to do if his very identity was being mocked by the people who refused to admit that there was a problem. He tells Dr. King in this letter that he's been reading his books and sermons for about six months and all he has to show for it is frustration and and a sense of defeat. As justice and Manny ponder life as young black men and talk about the racism that their friends exhibit, they decide to go for a drive in Manny's Range Rover on a Sunday morning just to think things through and to listen to some rap music. As they were at a traffic signal, a white guy in an SUV pulled up next to them and openly stared at them because of the volume of their music. At the next traffic signal, the white guy yelled at them to turn their music down. An animus conversation erupted between Manny and the man, and the man subsequently fired three bullets into Manny's Range Rover. One bullet hit Manny in the head and two hit Justice. One shot to the chest and the other to his right shoulder. The shooter was identified as a 52 year old police officer with the Atlanta PD. One of the teens died en route to the hospital and the other was in critical condition. It turns out that Manny was the one who died. It took 27 days for justice to recover from his wounds. Manny's funeral was held up until justice could attend the service. The grand jury handed down an indictment for the police officer. It wasn't a conviction, but at least they were treating what happened as a crime. At a much later date, the jury in the trial proceedings convicted the police officer of two misdemeanors with a mistrial declared on the felony murder charge. No sentence was determined because of a hung jury. Although the boys had no weapon on them at the time of the shooting, the police officer claimed that he feared for his life and indicated that the boys had a weapon. The police officer, Mr. Tyson, would be retried on the murder count and sentenced on all convictions at a later date. It turned out that there wouldn't be a second trial because Mr. Tyson was found dead inside his cell at the Clark County Jail. Justice's social experiment of trying to be like Dr. Martin Luther King seemed to be a failure. It seemed as though writing to Dr. King didn't help anything. The words of a gang member hung heavily in his mind. There's no escaping the BMC Black Man's Curse. Justice's teacher poses an important question to him. Regardless of the way the world views you, you can't change the way they think or act. You're only in control of you. If nothing else in the world changes, what type of man are you going to be? Meanwhile, justice and SJ Sarah Jane become girlfriend and boyfriend, although Justice's mother does not approve. Sarah Jane is Jewish, but his mother sees her as just another white girl that he should not be hanging around. Justice writes one letter again to Dr. Martin Luther King when he first settled into his dorm room at Yale University. He comes to understand that he's going to have to deal with people who consider him less than for the rest of his life. He also comes to understand that the most important thing is who he becomes in those moments and what type of man he wants to be. Here are my overall impressions of this book. The author, Nick Stone, grew up in the suburb of Atlanta. She's a graduate of Spelman College and works extensively with teen mentoring. This book is the number one New York Times bestseller, a William C. Morris Award finalist and one of Time magazine's 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. The book's theme is similar to that of the Hate U Give, centering on the injustices surrounding white police officers shootings of young African American teenagers. It describes the experiences of being one of a few few African American students in an all white preparatory school with the complexity of embracing their black culture in an elitist, white privileged environment. The focus in the story is not so much on Justice's family environment. His father died when he was 11 years old and he was raised by a single hard working mother. It centers on his relationship with his best friend and the circle of friends that he interacts with at school on a daily basis. He lives in a dormitory on the school campus, but he visits his home neighborhood every so often. The home neighborhood is run by a black gang who is involved in the typical criminal enterprises including murder. The story also focuses on the racial tensions between his mother's prejudices to toward white people and Justice's girlfriend who is Jewish. There's also the interplay of racial tensions between white police officers and young African American teenage males. Justice seeks to make sense of how to deal with the fact that he's seen as a threat even though he tries to do the right thing. That's why he started writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, seeking his perspectives based on the readings of his sermons and books on how to deal with being a young black male in American society. This is a social experiment that he barks upon because he felt that based on all of Dr. King's experiences that he could provide the wisdom and insights that justice sought. There were a couple of black male adults to whom justice could have posed his questions and sought advice, including one of his school instructors and his best friends father. But he chose to share only a limited amount of information with them. In the end, his social experiment failed him. I think that he matures into who he ultimately wants to be at the end of his senior year and as he is about to enter Yale University and he sets his intention to be the best man he can be despite others opinions of him. I think this book is one worth reading for young adults because it gives insights into friendships, struggles and racial identity conflicts that occur in prestigious school environments as well as tough neighborhood environments. It provides the perspective of a teenage African American male who struggles with his best friend's choice to ignore the racial commentary of his friends. When his friends awaken to the attitude of those around him, it's almost as if it's too late for Manning because he becomes radical, even angry. This is what led to the confrontation with the off duty white police officer who shot and killed Manny. I think the book provides a powerful depiction of a young coming of age African American young male who questions his place in the world world. And it is one in which other middle school students and high school students can probably identify with and relate to. If this is the type of subject matter and discussion that resonates with you Please subscribe to my podcast on whatever service you're listening to this also. I'd love to hear from you. So please leave me a comment, a rating, or a review and share this episode with anyone that you think would find it valuable. Be sure to tell your friends, your family, and your community about my podcast. Thanks for listening today. I hope you'll come back for more K12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. By the way, if you have an urgent question about a current issue or specific topic that you'd like me to cover, uncover and explore, shoot me a quick email at Kim liberation through education.com to let me know what your question is. Anyone whose question is selected to be discussed on one podcast episode will receive a 25Amazon gift card. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the handle kimj.fields. until next time, aim to learn something new every day. Love my show. Consider being a regular subscriber. You can subscribe for as little as $3 per month. Just go to HTTPs://forward/tinyurl.com Podcast support There's no contractual obligation. You can cancel at any time. If you choose to subscribe, I'll give you a special shout out thanking you in an upcoming episode. Remember, that's HT ttps tinyurl. Com Podcast Support to subscribe.