He didn’t do it, yet the whole world is against him, rooting for him to go to juvie. Amal Shahid was set up by society. His entire world is turned upside down when he is convicted of putting a white boy, Jeremy, into a coma. He was there, but he didn’t throw the last blows that put Jeremy in a coma. He is blamed for someone else's mistakes. He is the perfect scapegoat; he’s not overly wealthy, he has a temper, and he is a Muslim African American. His teachers betray him by telling the court he was different, he was bad, he was angry. Actually, he was just misunderstood. He skipped art school to go to museums, and he talked back because he was curious. Yet, the world has already decided and has written his story. He is a troubled black boy and deserves to go to a juvenile detention camp, they said. In juvie, he has a hard time finding hope after being a victim of the racist justice system. He finds hope and friends through poems, art, and letters. Even when he felt alone in the world, his grandma, uncle, and friends were rooting for him to keep going and not give up hope. After a while, he sets into his new routine of being in juvie, and then he learns that Jeremy woke up from his coma. This book struck a chord with me, and it showed me the racial inequalities in the justice system. I was surprised that Amal was put in juvie even though he didn’t give Jeremy the final blow that ultimately put Jeremy in a coma. In the book, it mentioned how, for him, the judicial system saw him as guilty until proven innocent and not the other way around. I thought the writer’s voice was exquisite, and it was a beautifully written book. I have fallen in love with verse books, and this one helped further my love. Though I sometimes found the metaphors to be hard to understand, I think it gave room for interpretation and thought. I like a book that makes you think, and I believe that verse books make you dive deeper into the real meaning of a story. In this book, the author doesn’t flat out tell you what happened. Instead, they brush around the point and use figurative language to hint at the evens. You, as the reader, have to connect the dots. I believe this book has changed me. Even though I would say I have read many books that talk about inequalities in the world, I think it reinforced my thinking of how racial inequality is everywhere. The book strengthened the idea that I have the upper hand in society due to my skin tone. It’s heartbreaking to think about all the people who have been put in jail even though they didn’t do it, and how their skin color played a role in their loss of years in the real world. Amal talked about how he was set up to fail by society. He was supposed to be troubled, the scapegoat, and a thug because he was of African descent and was Muslim. This book made me think about how many people’s lives have been affected due to racism, specifically judicial racism. By Annika K.
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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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