Recount in your own words what has happened in the film or book. At any point in the story, retell the major details of the story’s plot so far.
When I first opened the book “Dear Martin”, I met the main character called Justyce McAllister. He was trying to prevent his drunk ex-girlfriend from driving home, and wanted to make sure that she was safe and take her home by himself. Unfortunately, a cop saw him and thought that he was trying to abduct her (cause she was acting like a toddler). He gets handcuffed and sustains injuries in the process (the cops weren’t gentle with him). Jus tries to explain himself, he was just gonna keep her from driving drunk, but the cops won’t listen to him. He has to stay on the cold concrete, in handcuffs for HOURS and he was only released when SJ’s mom (who’s an attorney) barked “a bunch of legal hoo-ha in the cops’ faces”*. It’s obvious that the cops used a LOT of unnecessary force on Jus, and I highly doubt that they would’ve acted the same if it was a white kid they’d found. After this, Jus starts a diary titled “Dear Martin” where he writes letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in an effort to try to understand this whole “cop incident”. He realised that kid’s like him still face discrimination, and he wants to live like Dr. King. The following school day, we learn more about his classmates, especially one boy called Jared. In Societal Evolutions class, his teacher Dr. Jarius “Doc” Dray talks about the statement “All men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence and how this statement changed its meaning from 1776 to today, and if society has achieved full equality. Jared thinks that everyone IS treated equally nowadays and discrimination doesn’t really exist anymore. Him and SJ have a pretty big debate about this, cause obviously Jared isn’t seeing the whole picture (of course he isn’t, he’s just seeing the white male picture which is the least (if not at all) marginalised group). After school’s over, Jus is sitting in the Bras Prep senior lounge when Jared, Manny and three other friends come in. As soon as they sit down, Jared complains about the debate they just had. He thinks it’s ridiculous that Doc “has the nerve to suggest there’s still racial inequality to a classroom full of millennials”** and that everyone is treated equally, in fact “I totally don’t even see you as black, Manny!”.*** Jus and even Manny (a bit) know (from personal experience) that this ain’t the case though, and it shows us how vain and frankly racist Jared actually is. But it gets even worse with him, because on Halloween he suggests that he, Manny, Blake, Kyle and Tyler dress up as different “stereotypes”. The whole thing gets out of hand though when Blake chooses a goddamn Ku Klux Klan robe, a racist and violent klan mostly active in the US. Justyce and Manny feel SO uncomfortable, but the others laugh about it and think it’s a great idea. Somehow. Oh well, it all turns south pretty quickly, cause as soon as they arrive at the Halloween party Blake gets punched in the face from someone called Trey. He came there with his “crew” and they’re Manny’s cousins. So they would obviously punch someone dressed as a KKK member. Oh well, they tell Jared and the others to leave but Jus and Manny can stay. The two decide to go as well, and one of Trey’s friends makes a comment about how “They ‘goin places’ and shit. Gotta stay connected to the white man for the ride to the top”**** which resonated with me. Anyway, it’s a few days later and Jus got accepted into Yale University, which is a really impressive achievement and it doesn’t take long until the whole school nows about it. Well, not everybody is happy with Jus’ accomplishment and that someone is Jared. He’s RAGING, because he applied to Yale as well and got put on the waiting list, so he might not get a spot. He’s CONVINCED that it’s cause Justyce is black and he’s white (even though, according to him, everybody gets treated equally nowadays), and he also assumes that Jus got lower test scores than him and he starts a debate in Societal Evolutions class. SJ is DONE with Jared’s BS and tells him that you ALWAYS have to consider the background of someone else, because they might not have the same starting point as yourself. That shuts Jared right up. After that nothing THAT important happens, Jus and Manny talk about SJ and how Jus’ is interested in her but his mom doesn’t allow him to date a white girl. Then SJ and Jus have a falling out after their debate tournament because he tried to kiss her. A couple of mornings after she gives him the cold shoulder, we learn that a black kid called Tavarrius Jenkins got shot by cops, they mistakenly thought that he had a gun with him (which happens more often than one would like). This shakes Jus up pretty badly, and Manny tries to cheer him up by suggesting they go to Blake’s birthday party together. At first Jus is against that idea, but he eventually agrees to go with Manny. Well, it doesn’t go exactly as planned, cause Blake has some pretty racist possessions in his home (like wooden lawn jockeys with black skin and big red lips, and posters from a Minstrel show). Jus isn’t in a good headspace, and he is DONE with Blake’s racism. He calls him out on it, they have a big argument and when Jared joins in, a fight breaks out. Manny manages to separate Jus from the others, and he tells Jus that “you’re way too sensitive, man”*****. This upsets Jus a lot, cause Manny should stand up against racist people, not just get over it and pretend like it didn’t happen. So now Jus is angry at Manny, and SJ still won’t talk to him. Great. The next morning, Doc visits Jus in his dorm room and wants to talk to him about what happened, because Manny called him and wanted to make sure that Jus is alright (he’s still a good friend, you gotta admit that). Jus feels a lil better after his talk with Doc. The following school day though, both Jared and Manny are missing from class. Jus finds out why later on, when Manny goes to him and tells him about what happened. Manny finally got enough of Jared’s racism, and when he made a particularly offensive comment, he punched him and they had a big fight in the office of Manny’s baseball coach. Jus is impressed that Manny finally got some common sense, and they make up right then and there. Unfortunately, Jared’s dad decided to press charges against Manny for “assaulting his son”. Which made Manny really angry (understandably, what the hell is wrong with that guy) so he asks Jus if they can drive around for a while. What happened during this car drive is HUGE, and I don’t wanna spoil it so you’ll find out what happens in my next post!
*Page 11, row 9
**Page 30, row 11-12
***Page 33, row 1-2
****Page 44, row 23-24
*****Page 93, row 11-12
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