Before sticking the key into the ignition, Jus grabs his cell phonefrom the center console. Before he can change his mind, he punchesTrey’s number in

Quan grins. “I’ma give you Trey’s number. He’ll put you in touchwith Martel.”“You really don’t have to do that, Quan. I promise you, I’m all right.”

Why try to do right ifpeople will always look at me and assume wrong?”

They tried to get him on an attempted murder charge, buthomeboy’s lawyer got some doctor to come in and say dude wassleepwalking. And the shit worked! Judge dropped the charge down tosimple assault. Guy got sixty days at a youth development campus,then got to go home

These white people don’t got norespect for us, dawg. Especially the cops.

Every day I woke up in myhood coulda been my last

Who’s to say Garrett Tison’s quickness to pull the trigger wasn’tcaused by seeing his partner killed by a black kid?

Jus almost falls off the chair. “Castillo?” he says. “Tomás Castillo wasGarrett Tison’s partner?

Seeing the other kids inthe jumpsuits talking to their visitors makes Jus anxious to leave.Especially since the majority of the guys in the room look like him.

He almost can’t believe it.

, he’s one hundred percent sure he doesn’t wanna behere.

He stretches out his wrist and puts it on

Justyce is thankful for the lack of conversation; Manny’s absencemakes it almost impossible to breathe, let alone talk.

The more he thinks about it—and he’s been thinking about it a lotlately—it wasn’t the house that felt like a second home to him. It wasManny.

thugs,

Mr. McAllister, how’s it feel to be the Boy Who Survived?Justyce, do you think there will be justice?What’s it like knowing it could’ve been YOU in that casket?

“We’re so glad you made it,Justyce.” Mama crying and asking his forgiveness because she had togo back to work. Melo being escorted out because she wouldn’t stopwailing.

the Boy Who Survived (that’s what they’ve been callinghim on the news)

Based on some of the “speculation” he’s heard—Manny threatened Garrett Tison, one of the boys threw something intoTison’s Suburban, Justyce had a gun, etc.—he’d rather not be seen

He’s gone.Never did anything to anyone, and now Manny’s gone

That’s how long the Riverses keep Manny’s body in a mortuary coldchamber, waiting for his best friend to recover enough to attend thefuneral. Frankly, Jus wishes they’d gone ahead and had it without him.He really doesn’t wanna be here.

Man, please. This is my car,” Manny says. “I’m done bending overbackwards to appease white people.” He pushes a button on thesteering wheel, and the music gets louder

“I bet he’s totally profiling us right now. Probably thinks we’re drugdealers or something.”

Mr. Christensen is pressing chargesagainst me for ‘assaulting’ his son.

of guys like Jared and that employee, and most of them willnever change. So it’s up to you fellas to push through it. Probablybest not to talk with your fists in the future...” He nudgedManny. “But at least you have an idea of what you’re upagainst. Try not to let it stop you from doing your best, all right?

I should’ve preparedyou for, son

Manny is stretched out on Justyce’s bed with his hands tuckedbehind his head. His left hand is all taped up, and it appears one ofJared’s hornets got him in the upper lip

Four times,man—four—I had to grit my teeth to keep from knocking Jared’s punkass out

For helping me get my eyes open. Didn’t like what I saw, so Iwanted to shut ’em again, but if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t knowsome of the stuff I’ve always felt around those guys is legit.

I’m serious, Jus. Them fools don’t wanna hear when they’re beingoffensive. They couldn’t care less what it’s like to live in our skin. Thoseassholes aren’t my damn friends.

Mornin’,Dr. Dray. Don’t mean to bother you on a Saturday...I was wonderingif you’d mind going by the dorm to check on Justyce. He’s goingthrough some things and I’m, uhh...Well, he’s not answering hisphone, and I’m sure he doesn’t want to see me. If you could just popby there and make sure he’s all right, I’d really appreciate it. Roomtwo seventeen

When you spend your whole life being ‘accepted’ by white people, it’seasy to ignore history and hard to face stuff that’s still problematic

If youknow the stuff they’re saying isn’t true, why let it bother you?

but for him to get on me after thestuff Blake and Jared said? It’s like he doesn’t even care that they’redisrespecting him. Or me.

. “I just don’t get why heputs up with those assholes

“Why are black people so angry all the time?

. Every time I turnon the news and see another black person gunned down, I’mreminded that people look at me and see a threat instead of ahuman being

These dudes disrespect you—disrespect us—all the time, andyou never say anything about it. You just go along with whatever theysay

Homegirl’s gotthe fattest ass I’ve ever seen, and I think if she meets my niggas, I’llhave a good chance of getting’ her upstairs. You feel me, dogs?”

hat’sexactly what I’m sayin’. Guy’s walking down the street with his boysand stops to help a lady who ran out of gas on the wrong side of town.Cops get there and tell him to put his hands up cuz they think he’srobbing her, and when he does, they open fire cuz they think his cellphone is a gun. Shit’s fucked up, man.” Jus grabs the flask again andtakes a swig. “Niggas gettin’ shot for carrying candy and cell phonesand shit. Can you imagine what woulda happened to me if I’d had mycell phone out that night? I could be dead, dawg. And for what?

After they’ve stared each other down for forever, it feels, she wipesher face, grabs her stuff, and heads to the door.

Tavarrius Jenkins, a sixteen-year-oldblack kid shot by police while trying to help an older white woman in aLexus, has died from his injuries

We’re standing there grinning at each other, so I looked ather lips and leaned in for the kill...AND SHE TURNED AWAY! Just straight-up rotated 180 degreesand started walking in the opposite direction! “You see Docanywhere?” she said over her shoulder.That girl KNEW I was about to kiss her, Martin!She avoided me for the rest of the night, and then wouldn’ttalk to me on the ride back to school in her car Sunday morning.Just cranked up the music like I wasn’t even there

“And your state champions in the advanced pairs argumentationdivision: from Braselton Preparatory Academy, Justyce McAllister andSarah-Jane Friedman!

He and SJget backstage, and the team sweeps them up in hugs and high fives.Doc, with visibly moist eyeballs, tells Jus how proud he is, and a blackguy from another team nods at him from across the room.

, but if we canget some facts out there, maybe make people think a little bit, it’ll beworth it, right?

When it was over, hisexcuse for hanging out with her would be kaput

“Shut up. You know what I mean. If you’re doing this Be Like Martinthing, do it for real. Refusing to date a girl because she’s white isprobably not the Kingly way, bruh

My folks are all excited aboutme going to Morehouse next year, but I’m nervous as hell

“I know what you mean. Won’t matter to my mama, though. SJ’sskin is white.”

Manny stares right back. “Jus, I know you like her, man. And sheobviously likes you—”

“That you’re over at her house every damn day. You know JessaNorthup is her neighbor. She told us. Says SJ’s parents are obsessedwith you. Call you Jusmeister and shit.”

Whatever. All I know is that no matter what college I end up at, when I see a minority,I’m gonna wonder if they’re qualified to be there

But before you say something “isn’t fair,” you should consider your starting pointversus someone else’s.

Justyce got in because he deserved to.

It just doesn’t make sense—

Oh, I certainly am. Let’s observe, shall we? I’m ranked number two in our class, I’mcaptain of the baseball team, I do community service on weekends, and I got higher test scoresthan Justyce...yet he got into Yale early action, and I didn’t. I know for a fact it’s because I’mwhite and he’s black.

He watches Melo’s green eyes shift back and forth between him andSJ. SJ’s smile has melted so thoroughly, it’s officially a scowl

Jus doesn’t say a word. Just stares at Melo’s butt as she saunters off.

“S, YA BOY IS A YALIE!”

I was hoping we could hang out soon.” She runs afinger down the center of Justyce’s chest and hooks it into thewaistband of his pants

My whole life, Mama’s told me,“Don’t you bring home a white girl.”

it’s assholes like Trey and his boys that have cops thinking all blackdudes are up to no good.

“The fuck y’all doin’ here with these assclowns, bruh? Just gon’letcha boy disrespect our people like that?”

This is Manny’s cousin’s crew. Jus is prettysure they all belong to a gang called the Black Jihad run by a crazyolder dude named Martel Montgomery.

As soon as Jus and Manny get back to the others, Jared takes abunch of group pictures and posts them online. Then he says,“Equality Brigade, let’s ride,” and leads the charge to the doo

, but it’s hard to seemy boy hang out with dudes who are blatantly disrespectful toour people.

“Sittin’ there listenin’ to this rich white boy brag aboutbreaking the law after I sat in handcuffs for no reason...I can’teven tell you how hard that was, Ma. It’s like no matter what Ido, I can’t win.”

Which makes no sense to me, bro. What the hell does a hottie like Melo Taylor see in aguy who can’t afford a Happy Meal?

You get away with it because you’re white, asshole

All the courts “proved” yesterday was that a white guy can kill an unarmed teenager andget away with it if the kid is black.

every person in this country has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit ofhappiness

What about Justyce?

Black people have the sameopportunities as white people in this country if they’re willing to work hard enough.

Okay, I’ll bite. In my opinion, yes: we have reached full equality when it comes to race

Still not equal enough

Manny’s cousin confessed to shooting was none other than TomásCastillo

That was your aunt,” she says. “Your cousin’s been arrested.”Manny rolls his eyes. “What’d he do this time?”Dr. Rivers looks from Manny to Justyce and back again. “He’s beencharged with murder,” she says.Manny’s jaw drops.“They say he killed a police officer.

Justyce fights the urge to look at his arms. It’s hard to see the bruisesbecause his skin is such a deep brown, but even after a week, they’restill there

Long story short, I tried to do a good deed and wound up onthe ground in handcuffs.

Except that doesn’t even make sense. If Mel had locked the keys inthe car, Jus wouldn’t have been able to get her inside it, would he

when I saw you walking down the road with thatgoddamn hood on

“Officer, this is a big misundersta—” he starts to say, but he doesn’tget to finish because the officer hits him in the face

efore he can get his head out of the car, he feels a tug on his shirtand is yanked backward. His head smacks the doorframe just before ahand clamps down on the back of his neck. His upper body slams ontothe trunk with so much force, he bites the inside of his cheek, and hismouth fills with blood.

what is it with girls and purses the size of duffel bags?

her eyes are red andher hair’s a mess and she smells like vodka and cigarettes and weed

From where he’s standing across the street, Justyce can see her: MeloTaylor, ex-girlfriend, slumped over beside her Benz on the dampconcrete of the FarmFresh parking lot. She’s missing a shoe, and thecontents of her purse are scattered around her like the guts of a pulledparty popper. He knows she’s stone drunk, but this is too much, evenfor her.

When scanning, you want to look for particular ways that the author or publisher of a text made certain words or ideas stand out — whether they are bolded, underlined, or italicized;

ntroduction, and sometimes even the Conclusion of a text, you may want to skim a paragraph or two to get a sense of the overall language, vocabulary, and the author’s arguments.

reading like a writer involves picking up on the language choices, audience, purpose and main message of the writer, as well as the way in which the writer presents those moves within a particular structure, style, and set of conventions.

We have just established that there are multiple ways of thinking, learning, and expressing ourselves.

like, a “Q” for Quotes I may use in my essays or papers, a “!” for an alarming or surprising idea. I often use ?

who you are as a reader matters: your experiences, your memories, your knowledge from other literature, other courses, and other texts – are all very important to bring to your reading process.

develop a learning organization, where it is expected that everyone will make mistakes and those mistakes offer opportunities for learning;

evelop a culture of appreciation, where the organization takes time to make sure that people’s work and efforts are appreciated;

open the door to other cultural norms and standards

And Fish himself acquiesce to this linguistic prejudice when he come saying that people make theyselves targets for racism if and when they dont write and speak like he do

And that’s my exact argument, that we all should know everybody’s dialect, at least as many as we can, and be open to the mix of them in oral and written communication

You cant mix no dialects at work; how would peeps who aint from yo hood understand you?” They say, “You just gotta use standard Eng-lish.” Yet, even folks with good jobs in the corporate world dont follow no standard English.

n my own experience teachin grad students, they also tend to try too hard to sound academic, often using unnecessary convoluted language, using a big word where a lil one would do, and stuff

Instead of prescribing how folks should write or speak, I say we teach language descriptively. This mean we should, for instance, teach how language functions within and from various cultural perspectives. And we should teach what it take to understand, listen, and write in multiple dialects simultaneously

Black English dont make it own-self oppressed. It be negative views about other people usin they own langua

Cause I speak three tonguesOne for each:Home, school and friends

Building dorms costs money, of course, as do many of the other strategies that help students succeed

College matters so much because it isn’t just about book learning or the development of tangible skills. It’s one of the first obstacle courses of adult life.

American higher education has a dropout problem. About one in three students who enroll in college never earn a degree.

college isn’t just something they’re doing. It becomes their life.

For too long, high-school students, parents and guidance counselors have hardly thought about graduation rates when choosing a college.

Students tend to do better when they are following defined academic paths, rather than “aimlessly signing up for classes,”

Topic Sentence focuses the paragraph on your opinion about one topic, and directly relates to the thesis statement to create a topic sentence:

Interpret, analyze, and explain the ways in which the evidence, opinion, or textual evidence you have included relates to your opinion in the topic sentence

Because the Evidence informs your audience about the topic you frame with the topic sentence, consider using different forms of evidence to inform your audience about the topic, by using

1 was ashamed of herEnglish

1 was ashamed of herEnglish.

that Asian-American students, as awhole, do significantly better on math achievementtests than on English tests. And this makes methink that there are other Asian-American studentswhose English spoken in the home might also bedescribed as "broken" or "limited."

Lately I've been giving morethought to the kind of English mymother speaks. Like others, I havedescribed it to people as "broken" or"fractured" English.

But to me, my mother's English isperfectly clear, perfectly natural. It'smy mother tongue. Her language, asI hear it, is vivid, direct, full of obser-vation and imagery. That was thelanguage that helpe

When I was a teenager, sheused to have me call people on the phone andpretend I was she.

again found myself conscious of theEnglish I was using, the English 1 do use with her

I again found myself conscious of theEnglish I was using, the English 1 do use with her

But for a language to remain alive it must be used

. For me food and certain smells are tied to my identi ty

Through lack of prac-tice and not having others who can speak it, I've lost most of the Pachuco tongue.

Deep in our hearts we believe that being Mexican has nothing to do with which country one lives in .

Spanglish, comes most naturally to me. I may switch back and forth from English to Spanish in the same sentence

My "home" tongues are the languages I speak with my sister and brothers,

Learning must be challenging, but everybody has their own level of challenge.

Represent what they have learned in a variety of ways

Your identity is shaped by your experiences,

we also recommend writing notes by hand.

I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.

and white-- and somewhat more free

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me

Mutual trust, honesty, and respect for each other as professionals with negotiated goals. Ifyou feel something is unfair or want to discuss make-up work, let’s talk!

The Labor Journal will help you reflect on your habits, time management, breakthroughs,challenges, and feelings about your reading and writing.

“Ignored Learning Activities” ​are any Late activities not completed within ​48 hours​ of thedue date. ​You can “Make up”​​Ignored Learning Activities with Extra credit.