‘All American Boys’ is a novel that represents police brutality in the United States, through the eyes of two boys. One named Rashad, and another named Quinn. Rashad is a black high schooler who was a victim of police brutality, and Quinn is a white high schooler, who was a witness of it. After witnessing police brutality, Quinn was shocked that the police officer was someone very close to him, and the boy was just a high-school classmate. For both Quinn and Rashad, it was a life changer, because they learned what it meant to All American Boys. This book is trying to explain how police brutality in the United States is a harsh reality, and how it can happen anywhere. I picked ‘All American Boys’ because racial profiling is a very hot topic right now on the news, and also on social media. Racial profiling is an old problem, and the fact that it is still a problem in 2019, is not okay, and it needs to stop. Decorah isn’t very diverse, and I have never seen any kind of racial profiling in real life, or even anywhere around my community. This fits the rules of the reading without walls challenge, because I have never been racially profiled, I don’t personally know anybody who has been, and I can’t relate to the main character, Rashad very easily. The author of this book did a very good job of making us see the whole story in Rashad, and Quinn’s point of view. I can relate to Quinn, in the way that I was very disturbed how Rashad was beaten, and treated horribly. This was all because the police officer jumped to conclusions and racially profiled Rashad. I was also shocked how the police officer was so close to Quinn, and I realized that could happen here in Decorah. I learned what it was like to be a black man in the United States, and how their life is so much different than mine. Being an all american boy means to me, speaking your mind, showing your beliefs, and pursuing your dreams. “Because racism was alive and real as shit. It was everywhere and all mixed up in everything, and the only people who said it wasn’t, and the only people who said, “Don’t talk about it” were white. Well, stop lying. That’s what I wanted to tell those people. Stop lying. Stop denying. That’s why I was marching. Nothing was going to change unless we did something about it. We! White people!” Gus G.
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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