How can two boys from the same neighborhood end up on such divergent paths? How much does your upbringing affect your choices? How does being a young African-American boy growing up in a country whose legal system is against you from the start fare compared to a young white boy who also gets in to trouble with the law?
Nic Stone gives readers a window in to these questions, and many more, with this incredible story. Quan is locked up again, this time facing a murder charge, when he begins exchanging letters with Justyce, who is now in his freshman year at Yale University. Quan considers the differences in where their lives have led them based on the choices they both made, and on the fact that too often the "choices" available to African-American boys and men aren't really choices at all. Through their letters and Quan's retelling of what his childhood was like from a young age up until his current incarceration, readers get a sense of just how much the social, economic, and educational limits placed on children inform their later lives.
I cannot relate to this story as a 40 year old white woman, but I can certainly feel sympathy and get a sense of empathy for Quan's story. I was thinking about many of my current and former students as I read this book, so much so that I had to take breaks in my reading to process my thoughts and feelings. It made me ponder ways I can do more and continue to check in with these young men as they navigate circumstances similar to those Quan had to face.
If you're an educator looking for a jumping off point to talk about systemic racism, social justice, the school-to-prison pipeline, and other very real, very current race issues in America, I cannot recommend this book and its predecessor highly enough. Some of your students will be intimately familiar with the stories told, and seeing THEIR lives and stories on the page, knowing that others have experienced what they are going through, can be immensely powerful and helpful. Students who don't know what it's like to be profiled, looked down on, or treated as less than, can get a teenagers perspective of how that feels and begin the process of understanding their own privilege and developing sympathy and empathy for their peers.
I rarely give books a 5 star rating, because there aren't a lot of books that truly blow me away, make me really stop and think, or linger long after the final page is read, but Dear Justyce is absolutely one of those stories. Do yourself a favor and read it, share it, and talk about it.
Final rating: ★★★★★
ATY prompt 24: a book about racism or race relations
Popsugar Challenge prompt 34: a book about a social justice issue
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