Write about something happening in the book that you can relate to. How did you react? Try to put yourself in the character’s shoes and say why you think they feel the way they do
The morning after this dramatic event, Jus has a MASSIVE hangover and he’s not feeling too well. He slept the entire morning until Doc knocks on his dorm room door. He tells Jus that Manny asked him to check on his friend, because he doesn’t think that Jus wants to see him (Manny) right now. Jus is still feeling frustrated from the argument of last night, and he’s also still angry at Manny because he just lets others disrespect him without standing up for himself. Man, I can totally agree with Jus, finding out that some of your friends tolerate injustice is SOUL CRUSHING. For example, I recently had a conversation with some friends who told me that “having racist thoughts is okay, as long as you pinky-promise to never ever act on them” and I mean, that’s just complete bullshit? But they kept telling me that “hAviNg YoUr oWn OpInIoN iS a HuMaN rIgHt!!1!1!11!” but your own opinion stops being your own as soon as it impacts someone else?? Thinking that “blue is better than red” is your own opinion, but “white people are better than black people” isn’t. “BuT If tHeY pRoMiSe To NeVeR eVeR AcT rAcIsT DeSpItE hAvInG a RaCiSt MiNdSeT iS tOtAlLy FiNe!!!” but NEWSFLASH, if someone thinks black people don’t deserve respect then HE ISN’T GONNA TREAT THEM RESPECTFULLY, NO MATTER HOW MUCH HE SAYS THAT HE DOES. He will ALWAYS treat black people as inferior, even UNKNOWINGLY. So never EVER tell me that having a discriminating mindset is okay, because that person will go through his entire live thinking that discrimination is totally fine! If you have certain beliefs (in this case the belief that black people aren’t worthy of human rights) you WILL act on those beliefs in one way or another, if you do it unknowingly or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s NOT “your freedom of speech”, your freedom doesn’t include taking the freedom of others away. Ugh. (BTW u guys know who you are, come at me) I’m still angry about that, and I can kinda see why Jus is furious with Manny. Poor boy. If that one conversation I had managed to shake me up as much as it did, I can’t imagine how Jus feels like! Probably heartbroken and disappointed, he’s fighting for his own rights, doing that whole “Be Like Martin” thing and then his best friend (!!) just tells him to “chill out” and that he’s being “too sensitive”. Anyway, Doc managed to cheer him up a bit, but he’s still frustrated. I (kinda) know how he feels, after that conversation with my friends I was SO distraught, I nearly broke down crying! I was scared that EVERY person thinks like that, is that true? Do all people think that discriminating thoughts are totally fine?? Please comment your own opinion, what do you think of this whole situation? OH, and Jus had to hear that he shouldn’t bother fighting for his rights FROM HIS BEST FRIEND, who’s also impacted by racism!!! That must hurt a whole lot more! Anyway, Jus STILL hasn’t talked with SJ, he should really do that, maybe (hopefully) it’ll make him feel a bit better.
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