I Am Alfonso Jones

by Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson (Illustrator), John Jennings (Illustrator)

Alfonso Jones can’t wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school’s hip-hop rendition of the classic Shakespearean play. He also wants to let his best friend, Danetta, know how he really feels about her. But as he is buying his first suit, an off-duty police officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun, and he shoots Alfonso.

When Alfonso wakes up in the afterlife, he’s on a ghost train guided by well-known victims of police shootings, who teach him what he needs to know about this subterranean spiritual world. Meanwhile, Alfonso’s family and friends struggle with their grief and seek justice for Alfonso in the streets. As they confront their new realities, both Alfonso and those he loves realize the work that lies ahead in the fight for justice.

In the first graphic novel for young readers to focus on police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, as in Hamlet, the dead shall speak—and the living yield even more surprises.

Foreword by Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Comics, Contemporary, Social Justice

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2017

About the author

Tony Medina is a poet, graphic novelist, editor, short story writer, and author. Born in the South Bronx and raised in the Throgs Neck Housing Projects, Medina earned a BA in English at Baruch College, CUNY, on the GI Bill, and an MA and PhD at Binghamton University, SUNY, where he received the Distinguished Dissertation Award. Medina has published 22 books for adults and young readers, the most recent of which are Che Che Colé; Death, With Occasional Smiling; Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy; I Am Alfonso Jones; and Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky. Medina’s awards include the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, the Langston Hughes Society Award, the first African Voices Literary Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award honor, and Special Recognition from the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award. He has appeared in several documentaries and CD compilations and has read/performed his work all over the United States, as well as in Germany, France, Poland, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Netherlands. The first professor of creative writing at Howard University, Medina’s poetry, fiction and essays appear in over 100 journals and anthologies, including Sheree Renée Thomas' Dark Matter, Ishmael Reed’s Hollywood Unchained and Kevin Young’s Library of America anthology, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, and as an advisory editor for Nikki Giovanni’s Hip Hop Speaks to Children. Medina has also been featured on NBC's philanthropic reality show, Give, PBS’ White House Chronicle, CBS’ Great Day Washington, SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live, Medgar Evers College’s Writers on Writing, Forbes magazine, and has worked extensively with the non-profit literary organizations Say It Loud, Behind the Book, and Meet the Writers. Medina's book, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy, was featured on Let's Learn NYC for PBS. Follow him on Facebook; Twitter: @PoetTonyMedina and Instagram: poettonymedina. His website is tonymedina.org.

Reviews

[Katy O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required purchase for high school libraries, and this quote from the book, spoken by Alfonso's mother, is the exact reason why:

"Had that damn security guard cop, Officer Whitson, went to a school whose books reflected a broader reality than his narrow lily-white mind - had movies, TV, whatever, reflected that - - maybe he would have seen my son as a teenager, as a person, as a citizen, as an American, as a human....."

This graphic novel is a heartbreaking look at the Black Lives Matter movement and the horrific events that have ravaged the US and necessitated the creation of BLM and books such as this one. It's an incredibly rich reading experience, combining both the story of a teen's murder by a police officer with a hip hop Hamlet storyline as well as a deep historical account of the violence against blacks in the US. The author's note shares the author's history in the movement and motivation for this story - it is a must-read part of the book.

Every high school's collection should have I AM ALFONSO JONES right next to the MARCH trilogy....because the civil rights movement is NOT over.

Other 2017 titles to read alongside this one are AMERICAN STREET, PIECING ME TOGETHER, THE HATE U GIVE and DEAR MARTIN.

I am not qualified to review the art beyond saying that the black and white style fully conveyed the story and the strength of the book's message.

Thanks to Lee and Low/Tu Books for the complimentary review copy - all opinions are my own.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are better (*cough*The Hate U Give*cough*) #blacklivesmatter books There are other BLM books for young adults that I have appreciated much more than I did this but this one will appeal to those who like a faster, less emotionally-written, more action-based read.
The art isn't for me, it's done in that caricature style often seen at cons, street fairs, and malls but, again, it's going to charm plenty of readers.

Here's a #blacklivesmatter list from Hennepin County Library if you're interested in more books on this topic.

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say first of all that I love the meaning behind this and I understand why it had to be made, nonetheless I felt this book was all over the place jumping from timeline to timeline without a lot of cohesion. The energy of the characters especially the mom and Alfonso was raw and believable, but the mom gets lost during the aftermath of the shooting and the book seems to take more of a stand it for an ideological point of view (which it does do good job of it) rather than the characters themselves and the story arch.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My MT gave me this book yesterday because we are considering teaching it to our English 9 students. I could not put it down! It truly encapsulates all of the politics that influence the unfathomable phenomena of police brutality and gun violence. The symbolism behind the story's presentation in black and white is particularly striking, enhancing the complex (or maybe not so much...) nuance to these issues. The book also captures the rhythm of brutality poignantly- "...Don't bang out a clumsy rhythmless drum solo against my head- till I'm dead." The book also brings Shakespeare's Hamlet and Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man into conversation in order to examine the overarching possibility of hip hop/protest pedagogy and the politics of agency/visibility in our society. I especially loved and appreciated the depictions of two teachers who illustrates the power of and responsibility to advocate for justice in and out of the classroom. It's an important read, and I can't wait to work through it with my students.

[Brittany Thurman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am Alfonso Jones should be required reading for all. ALL.
I put the book down after reading and cried. My heart hurts from this world and this story is full of all of the emotions I, as a person of color, go through when it comes to what’s happening to us.
The police brutality against brown people is senseless and disgusting and I hope this will become a required reading for those in the force and thinking about joining. We are human with dreams and aspirations and no one, NO ONE, deserves to be shot like a deer for living their life.
Please read.. please respond. Please understand those different from you.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This young adult graphic novel is about a black teen named Alfonso Jones who is killed by a police officer. He’s killed because the officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun. There are very short chapters that follow Jones as he tries to make sense of why he was killed and as he follows his family and friends mourning his death.

I found this book completely riveting. I only put it down once it was time to sleep. It’s a hard-hitting, first person account of police brutality. If you’re sensitive to that subject matter, you should still read this book. It needs to be read by everyone, just like The Hate U Give. The art is stunning. The artists really poured their heart and soul into this work.

[melhara · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's no doubt in my mind that there is a need for more YA BLM books in various formats including graphic novels. Unfortunately, I don't think the delivery and execution of this graphic novel was very well done. The pacing was very fast and the transitions from chapter to chapter (each chapter ranges from 1 to 6 pages) were extremely choppy and all over the place. If you read each chapter on its own (separate from the book), it delivers a powerful message. But the way all the chapters were put together was confusing, difficult to follow, and very unorganized.

[Sasha Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was sad and all too real. from alfonso's shooting to the "investigation" to the slander to the school shooting to his mom's grief to everyone's anger to the protest to everything. this book is so important, too important.

[Maggie Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
What makes this graphic novel great-- a NEED to talk about how Black Live Matter is a tipping point movement, that has been created over the past century. Because the murder of unarmed Black people by police has been going on for decades. Because Black Lives also matter when they are wasting a way behind bars due to trumped up charges. Because before there were police there were lynch mobs, and before that there were patrols to catch runaway slaves. Medina clearly needed to infuse his story in the history of violence against Black people in this continent since colonization began-- is also what makes this graphic novel suffer. If this had been a graphic novel series, each book tackling another part of historical and systemic racism I think it would have worked better. But as it is there's just so many stories, and lessons, and characters crammed into this fairly short graphic novel that no one piece of the story lands the emotional punch that it could if given more time. I think this graphic novel had excellent aspirations, and tells a contemporary story infused with history in a format that makes it accessible to readers who often get left out of these conversations. I just think that trying to take on such a wide birth in content made it so that cohesive story telling took a hit.

[vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, this pointedly discussed important topics regarding #BlackLivesMatter. Sometimes, the best way to contextualize and explain issues (especially for teens - the target audience) is explicitly as the creators do in this book. Sadly for me, I thought it was incredibly hard to follow at times... we shuffle between the past, the present when Alfonso came back as a ghost. We also follow a lot of different characters and viewpoints, which added to my difficulty following the story.

[Rita Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an important book! Parts are so powerful that I had to stop to think. This is a very important read for HS students!

[Chandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Am Alfonso Jones was not what I expected. This fictitious story of a teenaged black male killed by a police officer with no true evidence of a weapon. The relationship with his classmates and his teachers is nice to see as they look to learn unconventionally. The illustrations are different and in black & white. It provides a different perspective as it could be Alfonso retelling his story through a dream.

This graphic novel stands apart with the acknowledgement of his ancestors. Knowing he is not alone from the otherside was nice addition, in my opinion, to an unfortunately familiar story.

[Dax · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will punch you in the face and show you the dystopian-esque world we live in. The creators of this graphic novel do an amazing thing of giving a voice to the voiceless. We see Alfonso and so many other wrongfully murdered black people riding a train and haunting the world. No justice no peace. No justice NO peace.

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heart-breaking story of the injustice in the city. Aftermath of a tragic killing. Focuses on those left behind - would be a good companion to The Hate U Give.

The illustration style combined with the lettering feels dense, crowded. Just a little blurry, foggy.

It's a broken system.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bleak and challenging read that I encourage everyone to read.

Alfonso Jones is a fifteen-year-old student at Henry Dumas a private school in Harlem. After a day preparing for a hip-hop rendition of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Alfonso and his secret crush Danetta, head to a mid-town department store to purchase a suit. Alfonso’s first ever suit. His father, recently exonerated when new DNA evidence was presented in this case, is finally coming home. But during this happy shopping trip Alfonso is shot and killed by a department store security guard. That’s when Alfonso arrives on the ghost train full of real-life past victims of police brutality.

What Dazzled: I am Alfonso Jones brings to light the vast number of people of color who are victims of police brutality and the ongoing violence. The element of magical realism and the parallel of the play Hamlet provide strong images that justice and peace have not yet been achieved for the dead or the living.

The train then takes Alfonso to see his past, present, and eventually his death in order to help Alfonso understand that without justice he will not be able to achieve peace. The graphic novel format is a great visual representation of unrest and movement and seeing it drawn makes me think of the bullet that begins the story.

What Fizzled: While I do believe many teens will enjoy this graphic novel, there’s a couple areas that I felt could have been a little more polished. Either that or I completely missed the point. There appeared to be quite a bit of inconsistency in the way Alfonso was drawn. Sometimes his appearance would be youthful and almost feminine and then other times he appeared to be a thirty year old man with harsh lines. I found this very distracting. I also felt that the students at Henry Dumas seemed to be drawn more caricature while the adults seemed to be more realistic. Perhaps this was to emphasis the students’ youth, but I felt they were to be taken less serious and the more realistically drawn adults were the ones to be taken serious.

At the beginning of the story the reader is provided some spanish words and their translation, but never again in the story. Was it necessary to have the words at all or was it only to make sure the reader knew Alfonso’s mother is of Spanish descent?

The story is nonlinear and the jumps in time were very confusing to understand.

I wish sources would have been provided for the five victims who were the ancestors on the train. Some of my very basic research had different facts than what the authors provided, so I would have liked to read where they gathered their information.

Jots and Thoughts: I’m delighted Lee and Low Books and the imprint Tu Books sent me a copy of this book. Lee and Low Books is an independent, minority- owned publisher whose mission is “increasing the number of diverse books available to children”. I’m absolutely going to look at more books from this publisher and imprint.

[Russell Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The public’s current awareness of dubious law enforcement killings of black Americans seems to date from Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, and the rise of Black Lives Matter in the ensuing protests. Medina’s story synthesizes the details of about a half-dozen of these tragedies into the vessel of Alfonso Jones, and uses the journeys of his shade to unlock a greater, longer, sadder history than most are aware of. Set to play Old Hamlet in a hip-hop inflected high school production of Shakespeare’s play, Alfonso Jones is killed by a security guard who claimed to mistake the suit hanger in the teen’s hand for a gun. Instead of playing a ghost, he becomes one himself. The severed threads of his life - the crush he was shopping with and about to confess his feelings to, the soon-to-be-released incarcerated father he’d never met, and his friends and frenemies at school - carry on in various ways as he watches his name become famous around the world even as it’s dragged through the mud by the usual suspects. Recalling Stoppard’s exchange in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead about the potential for the afterlife to be a form of transportation, here death is still not a boat, but rather a subway populated by those unjustly slain by police. Between following the lives of his survivors and trying to influence them in his limited way, Alfonso learns that he is the latest in a long line such casualties that extends well before his birth.

Medina weaves a compelling story out of disparate elements and scales, handling home life, school life, public life, and afterlife in their turns with exceedingly brief chapters of only a few pages each. Although the story presents a distinct point of view about its events, it remains well-rounded, using the Alfonso’s newfound omnipresence to show how his death has affected everyone, even his killer, in emotionally realistic ways. The rapid shifts between storylines can make the story somewhat choppy and difficult to resolve into a whole at times, but as plots resolve and interconnect, the forest becomes evident despite the trees. Individual characters are well-realized with distinct personalities, even for those mainly in the background. Medina also makes the community a character in its own right, with its own rhythms, symbols, and folk practices, inviting a possibly alien audience to experience Alfonso’s Harlem as a new neighbor might.

The art of Robinson and Jennings, even in its unfinished state, is fluid and varied, contributing to the different speeds and scales at which the narrative operates: often intimate, sometimes sweeping, and in a few places, kinetic. Layouts are largely regular, showcasing the setting during long conversations, with occasional inventive splash pages breaking the rhythm for effect.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am trying to read more graphic novels because as a Middle School English teacher, I see graphic novels in the hands of my students all the time. And I love it! The ability to tell stories comes to a new life when there is terrific writing and storytelling to go along with artist depictions. It also frees up the writer to focus on dialogue which must be realistic and believable.

I have never read a graphic novel like this one. "I Am Alfonso Jones" stirred something in me and shook me. It was a hard read at times and one I actually had to put down for a couple of days because I would simply get too angry.

It is a very pertinent and relevant story for today's violent world. Especially the world that a young African American male must live in. The injustices are real. The concerns are real. The writers do an incredible job of bringing current issues in line with historical context. It's impossible to not learn something from this book. It's equally impossible to not gain empathy for the concerns and environment that a young African American living in NYC must live in.

It's a beautiful and riveting story. The depth of the characters--even minor ones--is well done. It's a sudden gut-punch of a story from the very beginning. Highly recommended. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's so hard for me to score GN's high, but it is really well done. I would suggest reading it in conjunction with The Hate U Give and Dear Martin.

[Ashlie Swicker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous and heartbreaking. This work is so important, but I need a prequel so I can spend more time with Alfonso. This is not the crux of the narrative, but a lot of the commentary about schools and the way diverse representation is important for ALL students, ESPECIALLY white students living in a cultural bubble really stood out to me. Haven't cried so hard reading in awhile.

[Laurel Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I inhaled this book, and sobbed from start to finish. Worse, I saw nothing but terrible parallels to our current world in 2020, when this was published in 2017. Read this for yourself, to you kids, share with family and friends. Teach this book, and try to look past your own beliefs to see the larger issues at play, as well as personal tragedies that we should never have to struggle.

[Chelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A vital subject that I struggled through, not because of the emotional impact, but because I was frequently confused by the manner of storytelling. I wanted to like this more.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brilliant and harrowing concept. The lyrical take on Hamlet as framing the complexities of this issue into a narrative and creating the afterlife train as a sort of Dickensian device were brilliant. Some of the illustration styles and text layout were confusing and made this a little hard to follow.

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. I normally wouldn't like this art style, but it fits the tone very well. Also, I don't know why I hoped for a happy ending where some modicum of justice was served. This is a realistic book inspired by different true events and people. If you read this and don't get sad or mad at the situation, you need to check yourself.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It gives you a different perspective

[Mitchell Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, poignant, relevant, and the jargon and medium allows for most audiences to attain the knowledge and story regardless of age or background!

[Kayla Leitschuh · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the narrative can be a bit hard to follow at times, this truly was a moving and important graphic novel. I'm glad I ordered it for the library. A recommended read for those who loved Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by Greg Neri and/or The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

[mad mags · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Slavery didn't end in 1865; it evolved."

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Early Reviewers program. Trigger warning for racist violence.)

At just fifteen years young, Alfonso Jones has already endured more than any human - child or adult - should have to. Before he was even born, Alfonso's father was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of a taxi fare, a white woman. Alfonso's mother went into premature labor when the officers investigating the case executed a search warrant on the couple's apartment, knocking over an altar of candles and starting a fire in the process.

Many people would break under far less, but Alfonso's family persevered. Though he mostly only knows his father through letters, Ishmael has worked hard to stay a constant in his son's life. His mother Cynthia is Alfonso's champion; through sheer force of will - and Alfonso's stellar test scores - she was able to gain him admittance to the prestigious Henry Dumas School of the Arts. She and Alfonso moved in with his paternal grandfather, the reverend Velasco Jones, to be closer to his school, and so Alfonso could have a strong male role model in his life.

Alfonso loves playing the trumpet, dreams of portraying Hamlet in his school's hip-hop production of the play, and works part-time as a bike messenger to save some money to visit his father in Attica. Or so he thinks: just as he's nearing his goal, Ishmael's conviction is overturned on DNA evidence. Instead of a ticket, Alfonso goes shopping for a suit for Ishmael's welcome home party. There, off-duty police officer and Markman's security guard Pete Whitson mistakes the hanger in Alfonso's hand for a gun, and shoots him multiple times. Alfonso dies on the scene, as his crush Danetta screams in shock and horror.



When he awakens, Afonso finds himself riding a ghost train, filled with his ancestors and compatriots: other Black Americans who were murdered by police officers. Eleanor Bumpurs. Michael Stewart. Anthony Baez. Amadou Diallo. And, of course, Henry Dumas, for whom Alfonso's high school is named. Alfonso's elders guide him through the afterlife, as he checks in on the people who had such a profound impact on his life: his classmates and teachers; his parents and extended family; and, of course, the officer who killed him - and the communities that both defend and condemn Whitson's actions.



Alfonso and his fellow spirits are destined to ride the ghost train until they find justice, making this a journey without end for so many of them - and giving a new meaning to the chant "No justice, no peace."

I Am Alfonso Jones is not an easy read, but it's a necessary one. It touches upon so many of the issues surrounding the Movement for Black Lives: not only excessive force, police brutality, and the shooting of unarmed POC, but also mass incarceration; victim blaming; #NotAllCops; racist media coverage; unequal access to education; the impact of technology on organizing and protest; the generational divide between activists; intersectionality; accountability; the blue wall of silence; the tension between professional nonprofits (read: showboating by outsiders) and local grassroots organizers; and the effects of trauma on survivors, to name a few.

By telling the story through Alfonso's eyes, Medina provides a unique perspective: we get to put ourselves in the victim's shoes, as Alfonso bears witness to the myriad ways his friends, family, and society as a whole cope with his murder. Framing this against the backdrop of a hip-hop Hamlet adds another layer of depth and originality.



I Am Alfonso Jones is both a heartbreaking and impassioned call to arms - and an eloquent introduction to the #BlackLivesMatter movement for younger readers. The ending, while especially merciless and unsatisfying, is all too believable and true to life. Medina doesn't pull any punches or try to sugarcoat things with a shiny, happy resolution.

That said, the story is not entirely without hope: Alfonso lived to see the first Black woman president. We should be so blessed.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2018/07/24/...

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book because of the important subject matter, but I just could not warm up to the writing or the art.

The story flow seemed unnecessarily jumbled and vague on certain key points. A coat hanger kept appearing and disappearing in the scenes that showed the shooting that is central to the book. Was it there or wasn't it? Was the kid running or standing still? Was this supposed to make us feel that the events were perceived differently by different people or expose that the artist had no idea what was going on in the scene either?

A hip-hop version of Hamlet and some poetry are shoehorned in. They weren't bad, but didn't add much at best and were slightly distracting at worst.

Mostly, this book has the misfortune of being read after The Hate U Give, and I cannot help but compare the two and judge this one the much lesser.

[Lucy Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

People of color can be famous, and they have made many notable contributions to this world, regardless of the obstacles they had to overcome. STEM, literature, sports, film, arts, religion, politics---these are some of the many things they can become famous for.

They can also be famous for getting shot, too.

I never knew about George Floyd until he got shot, and the hundreds of protesters in this book probably never knew about Alfonso Jones until he got shot.

Alfonso Jones was a teenaged African American student. He was about to audition for the role of Hamlet in a school play, and his father was about to return home from prison after being proven innocent of a crime. Alfonso was going to buy his first suit with his crush Danetta, but an officer mistook a hanger he was holding as a weapon, so the officer shot Alfonso. In his afterlife, Alfonso was in a train that drove to past experiences of other African Americans, including his own, and also allowed him to view what was currently happening. The shooting of Alfonso Jones stimulated many protests for the Black Lives Matter movement, and Alfonso's teacher and class discussed racial prejudice. While in the train, Alfonso was able to see the past and current injustice people of color face.

This book's beginning was a bit odd, as transition from a flashback to the train to the present was confusing and seemingly unorganized, but I got used to it and saw the relevance of what was happening.

Alfonso could have achieved many things if he had not died. He could have played Hamlet, he could have perfected his skills with the trumpet, he could have seen his father for the first time, he could have continued his good participation in school, and he could have completed his history project. However, instead, the only thing he could be known for was getting shot, all because he held a hanger. Can't people of color be known for what they have achieved instead of what caused them to get shot?

This reminds me of a quote from scholar and litigator Michelle Alexander:
"As a criminal, you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it."
Now, there are MANY different things that have improved for people of color. Thankfully, as a person of color, I have never experienced any racism or colorism against myself, so I am not too worried about being prejudiced based on race. Still, I do see where Alexander might be going with this. The institution of racism definitely has the potential of being redesigned just for people to maintain racial distinction and racial hierarchy. For instance, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed African American citizenship, but although slavery and the objectification of African Americans was considered unconstitutional, people deliberately tried to prevent African Americans from accessing equality to Caucasians by using literacy tests, poll taxes, and segregation. Now, there is the criminal system, where a person could easily be convicted of a crime based on race and the color of their skin.
This is not intended to bring hate against the police. (There are definitely many dedicated police who seek social justice, and we should not stereotype police the same way people have stereotyped racial minorities.) I just hope people could stay consistent with the procedures required to prove a person guilty or innocent. (Ex. Ask them to show the weapon, explain themselves, ask for the court to conduct a fair trial if necessary, etc., instead of immediately assuming that a person is holding a weapon and deciding to shoot them before checking the individual.)

Invisibility: In a class discussion about The Invisible Man, the teacher asked what it means to be invisible, and Alfonso said that it could mean being unnoticeable, while still standing out.
If you put it from that perspective, it does make sense.
Lately, I have been thinking about dying my hair purple and painting my nails blue (if I get the permission to do it.) If I were to go to school like that, my purple hair and blue nails would stand out in the crowd. However, because of the noticeability of these features, people would be more drawn to my purple hair and blue nails, hence, they could pay less attention to other things about me, such as who I am. Therefore, my identity could be quite invisible. I would stand out in a crowd because of my purple hair and blue nails, but because people would pay more attention to these, they wouldn't know exactly who I am, so I am invisible to them while standing out. (Don't get me wrong! I still want to dye my hair purple and paint my nails blue!)
Likewise, a person who has darker skin may be noticeable because of the skin color, but since the skin color is noticeable, people could draw more of their attention on the skin color, and because there is more attention on skin color, there could be less attention on other things, like personality. With Alfonso, for instance, the police probably payed attention to his skin color, race, and gender, which were probably features that stood out, but everything else about him were practically invisible because of his skin color, race, and gender, so he got shot before everything else about who he was was visible. This might explain why a Black person could be well-known for getting shot, but it might take a while to remember who George Washington Carver is.

The train: In this comic, the train was meant for Black people who did not receive social justice, and they were continuing to fight for it, even though they were dead.
Sometimes, I wonder, "What would Martin Luther King Jr. do about this?" Why keep thinking about a person who is long gone? That's the point; I wish we got over the need for racial equality, but there are still many racial gaps in things such as STEM, and there is still prejudice against people of color, so I can't help but wonder what all the deceased activists would have done in times like this.

[USOM · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just so good. It brings the events of the past to a younger audience and in true graphic novel style. In these types of novels it is more about showing, and the words need to have significance. There were so many fabulous touches by Medina by showing the history of famous people, the other ghosts, and the way the media manipulated the story. Tackling these really difficult and complex issues, Medina does a fabulous job of starting the conversation - a discussion about race, its history, and the ways we move on.

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Edelweiss.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/revi...