Life is messy. This is a story that shows how complicated life events are. Misinterpretation. Preconceptions. Misunderstandings. Judgements. Assumptions. I teach a Crisis Intervention class and the following sentences come right out of the text book I use in class: "People hear what they expect or what they are sensitive to. When people expect others to judge them, they interpret the actions of others through the lens of their expectations." I could not sum it up any better than that!
This is a story of a 16 year old black boy, Tariq Johnson, who gets shot by a white man in the street after a chain reaction of events that occur because of misunderstanding and preconceived notions. It's set in motion by two men. One is a shopkeeper who knows Tariq and his family really well. The other is a white man who walks out of a different store and mishears the shopkeeper when he is calling Tariq back to give him his change from his recent purchase. The white man thinks (assumes?) the shopkeeper is yelling, "Stop thief!" when really he is yelling, "Stop Tariq!" As the white man grabs Tariq to stop him, he sees the "flash of a gun". Another white man stops the car he is driving, assumes Tariq is threatening the first white man and shoots Tariq dead in the street.
As the story unfolds, everyone explains what they "saw" and what they "know" about Tariq. Depending on who is talking, Tariq was actually holding a Snickers bar for his little sister, Tina, OR he was holding a gun. Tariq was a good guy who did not want to join the Kings (gang) ever, OR he was already Brick's (gang leader) right-hand man in the organization. Tariq owned a blade (a key feature of the Kings gang members) OR he was holding on to a knife for a friend who was sent to prison for killing someone. (The friend actually didn't kill the person - he cut them though. He then took the fall for the actual murderer.) Tariq was wearing gang colors when he was killed OR he wasn't.
This story shows what's wrong with our society. No one takes the time to listen or to see what is actually right in front of their eyes. People jump to conclusions based on someone's supposed connections/affiliations, or skin color, or the clothing that is being worn. The saddest thing in the book for me though is Tariq's best friend, Tyrell, and his little sister, Tina, (who has a developmental delay), misunderstanding a deed that Tariq did for a friend, which implicates Tariq and makes their understanding of him different than what they knew to be true.
This is a powerful story - and definitely relative to the things happening in our nation today. Initially it is confusing because each chapter is a different person's voice - and you don't really know who is who and how they connect to Tariq. It's like different puzzle pieces that you have to put together as you read to understand the bigger picture.
Wendy's Rating: ****
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