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Funny how it works with white kids though. It’s dope to be black until it’s hard to be black.
He’s nice like that. He gives kids free meals if they bring in their report cards. If it’s a good one, he’ll make a copy and put it on the “All-Star Wall.” If it’s bad, as long as they own up to it and promise to do better, he’ll still give them a meal.
people like us in situations like this become hashtags, but they rarely get justice.
“Sounds like my parents,” says Britt. “Took us to fucking Harry Potter World for the third year in a row. I’m sick of Butter Beer and corny family photos with wands.” Holy shit. Who the fuck complains about going to Harry Potter World? Or Butter Beer? Or wands?
The drug dealer. That’s how they see him. It doesn’t matter that he’s suspected of doing it. “Drug dealer” is louder than “suspected” ever will be.
Does he know all the students by name, or just the ones who are black like him? I hate that I think about stuff like that now.
It takes a lot of nerve to go off on somebody, call them out, and tell them you love them within a span of five minutes.
Funerals aren’t for dead people. They’re for the living.
Ms. Brenda is wailing behind them, wearing a black dress that once belonged to Momma. Her hair has been combed into a ponytail. Two guys, I think they’re Khalil’s cousins, hold her up. It’s easier to look at the casket.
‘Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.’”
Her words used to have power. If she said it was fine, it was fine. But after you’ve held two people as they took their last breaths, words like that don’t mean shit anymore.
That’s the hate they’re giving us, baby, a system designed against us. That’s Thug Life.”
“I hear you, but Khalil didn’t have to sell drugs,” I say. “You stopped doing it.” “True, but unless you’re in his shoes, don’t judge him. It’s easier to fall into that life than it is to stay outta it, especially in a situation like his.
Who do I tell you that you have to fear?” “Nobody but God. And you and Momma. Especially Momma when she’s extremely pissed.” He chuckles. “Yeah. The list ends there. You ain’t got nothing or nobody else to fear.
“Faith isn’t just believing but taking steps toward that belief.”
A silver cross pendant hangs from his neck, like he’s saying Jesus endorses what he did. We must believe in a different Jesus.
“And they kept glancing at each other, like they were up to something. Brian says that’s when he got scared, ’cause they could’ve taken him down if they teamed up.” I couldn’t have taken anyone down. I was too afraid. He makes us sound like we’re superhumans. We’re kids.
That’s the problem. We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us. What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?
And at the end of the day, you don’t kill someone for opening a car door. If you do, you shouldn’t be a cop.”
Make a list of the good stuff, then make a list of the bad stuff. If one outweighs the other, then you know what you gotta do. Trust me, that method hasn’t failed me yet.”
At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”
The beautiful thing about best friends? They can tell when you don’t wanna talk, and they don’t push it. Maya hooks her arm through mine.
Intentions always look better on paper than in reality.
“Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared, Starr,” she says. “It means you go on even though you’re scared. And you’re doing that.”
She turns around so her back is to him, the view he really wants, and starts dancing. He smacks her ass. She looks my way. I doubt she can see me, but I don’t think I’m one of the people she’s trying to see anyway. They’ve gone to the car. Suddenly I get it.
People say misery loves company, but I think it’s like that with anger too. I’m not the only one pissed—everyone around me is. They didn’t have to be sitting in the passenger’s seat when it happened. My anger is theirs, and theirs is mine.
What makes his name or our names any less normal than yours? Who or what defines ‘normal’ to you? If my pops were here, he’d say you’ve fallen into the trap of the white standard.”
