Summary
The news coverage at the beginning of the chapter outlines the public debate underway and showcases two diverging viewpoints: that Rashad was the victim of excessive force, or that Rashad and people who “look like him” are dangerous, and that police should do whatever is possible to clean up the community. Rashad is upset by these comments, but Clarissa tells him not to let the bastards get him down. Rashad’s mother comes to visit him; normally calm, the events are affecting her too. In between anger and tears, she reminds Rashad that he has not done anything wrong, and the police had no right to treat him the way they did.
Spoony and his girlfriend, Berry, come to visit and show Rashad the message “Rashad is absent again today” that was spraypainted outside the high school. Rashad immediately recognizes Carlos’s work. Spoony and Berry show Rashad how the words have become a hashtag on social media, and people are tagging the same message all over the city. They let Rashad know that students are planning a protest to support him. Rashad’s mom is nervous about the idea, worried that more people will get hurt. Rashad’s friends show up and are talking about the protest too. Spoony asks Rashad’s friends if any of them have had bad interactions with the police, and everyone has a story. Hearing all of them, Rashad decides he wants to go to the protest. He recognizes that the protest is about more than just what happened to him; it’s about the relationship between the police and all the people of color in his community.
On Wednesday, Quinn leaves the house with his brother Willy and is surprised to see Paul on the sidewalk, a few houses down. Paul looks disheveled; his eyes are bloodshot and his hair is a mess. Paul comes over. At first he’s casual, but that quickly gives way to anger when he picks up on how Quinn is evading him. Paul now knows that Quinn was there the night he arrested Rashad and he insists Quinn hear his side of the story. Paul explains that the woman in the convenience store caught Rashad stealing, so Rashad knocked her over, before going after Paul. Paul says he was only doing his job by protecting the woman. Quinn lies, saying he gets it, but Paul sees through his lie and with a look of disgust, leaves. Quinn realizes he doesn’t believe Paul’s version of events.
When Quinn arrives at school, students are gathered in front of Carlos’s message at the school entrance. Jill, along with other students, is passing out flyers to promote the protest which will take place on Friday, exactly a week after Rashad’s arrest. They plan to march past Jerry’s, where Rashad was arrested, ending up at city hall and the police station. Quinn heads to Mrs. Tracy’s English class. Before Rashad’s arrest, they’d been reading Invisible Man. While the students are waiting for class to start, Mrs. Tracey begins to cry, saying she doesn’t want to see this happen to any of her students. The students sit in silence, watching their teacher, as Mrs. Tracey calms down enough to apologize. She reveals that the school no longer thinks it’s a good idea for them to write essays on Invisible Man.
Quinn thinks about the book, in which the author, Ralph Ellison, describes the bigotry of the 1930s and the experience of being a Black man in the U.S. He disagrees with the school's decision, and passes a note to Tooms, one of his basketball teammates, asking “Should we do something? Invisible Man at Central High: Rashad.” After reading Quinn’s note, Tooms pulls out his copy of the book and begins to read out loud, dedicating the story to Rashad. Quinn follows his lead, picking up with the next paragraph and soon the whole class takes turns reading out loud from the book. Later, in basketball practice, Tooms hits Guzzo in the face when they both jump up for a rebound. While Tooms says it was an accident, Guzzo shouts that everyone has it out for him. Coach Carney sends Quinn to help Guzzo clean up, but not before reminding the team that they have to leave all of their differences aside when they come to basketball. In the locker room, Guzzo complains to Quinn that everyone is interpreting what happened with his brother backward. They criticize Paul and call him racist when Paul was just protecting the woman in the store from Rashad. When Quinn disagrees, Guzzo asks whose side Quinn is on. They continue arguing until the rest of the team files in. Their Coach forces Guzzo and Tooms to apologize to each other, but neither of them means it. Quinn looks at Guzzo and tells him “It’s over” to which Guzzo angrily agrees.
By Wednesday, Rashad has spent five nights in the hospital. The head of ROTC, Chief Killabrew, sends Rashad a letter wishing him a speedy recovery and attaches a copy of the ROTC creed. The creed includes values such as: do not steal or lie, be accountable for your actions, and uphold the American way of life. Rashad is unsure how to interpret the letter, and has his first nightmare about the attack after reading it. Rashad’s father surprises him by showing up alone to visit. His father tells Rashad that when he was a police officer he was breaking up a fight between two teens, one Black and one white. Rashad’s father assumed the Black teen was in the wrong and, when the kid ignored his warning to stop reaching into his backpack, his father shot him. Later, Rashad’s father found out that the white teen had robbed the Black teen, whose name was Darnell. Darnell had asthma and had opened his backpack to get his inhaler. Darnell was paralyzed from the waist down, and after much news coverage and controversy, Rashad’s father left the police force. Rashad is shocked. He was too young to remember the events, and no one in his family ever told him this story. Rashad’s father shares that he’s haunted by what he did, but wants Rashad to know that not all police officers are bad, and many are trying to make a difference. Rashad responds that the same is true for teens who dress like him and his brother.
After his father leaves, Rashad tries to process what he learned. He takes a walk around the hospital and returns to his room to find two visitors: Mrs. Fitzgerald, from the hospital gift shop, and another woman whom he doesn’t recognize. She introduces herself as Katie Lansing, the woman from the convenience store who tripped over him. Ms. Lansing apologizes for everything that happened to Rashad and offers to testify for him if he needs it. Ms. Lansing leaves and Mrs. Fitzgerald stays, revealing that when they met she knew who Rashad was and what had happened to him. They talk about the protest. Rashad wants to go, but is scared. Mrs. Fitzgerald shares that she lived through the civil rights movement, but was too scared to participate and now regrets that she did nothing. She tells Rashad he’ll always be scared, whether or not he protests, but he can at least have his voice heard. After she leaves, Rashad forces himself to really watch the news coverage, as he works on his drawing of himself and the police officer. Crying, he looks at the faceless figures and then decides to draw a mouth on the one being beaten.
Analysis
The theme of political division arises again in the diverging opinions of those interviewed on the news. The woman who filmed the video footage of Rashad being beaten defends Rashad’s innocence, questioning how Rashad could be accused of resisting when he was on the ground and handcuffed. But in another interview, a cab driver reveals the stereotypes he holds about Black youth, saying that he wouldn’t pick up Rashad at night because Rashad looks like someone who once robbed him. As he watches, Rashad is infuriated, thinking how everyone at school wears jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers but only some young people are punished for it. When Rashad sees his mother that day she’s also outraged saying, “You’re not some punching bag, something for them to beat on whenever they feel like it.” Seeing how hurt he was, and hearing people call Rashad a criminal, his mother feels helpless and protective of her son.
The message Carlos wrote outside the school gains traction and prompts other people to join in. The message spreads through graffiti and on social media. Rashad and his family and friends discuss the upcoming protest. His mother is cautious; she distrusts the police and worries that it could be dangerous. Spoony and Berry say people have a right to voice their feelings, that they’re fed up with being treated this way by the police. The theme of the policing of Black lives is illustrated clearly in the stories that Rashad’s friends share about their interactions with police: their cars being searched for drugs, random pat downs when they’re walking down the street, or generalized profiling as criminals. The stories demonstrate that police presence is prevalent in their lives; their whole community seems to be criminalized, and the more they see the police acting like bullies the more mistrust deepens on both sides. These feelings have bubbled to the surface again after Rashad was beaten by Paul, and now people are using the incident as a rallying cry, not only to defend Rashad, but to speak out about broader patterns of police brutality and racism.
The conversation between Paul and Quinn reveals how strained their relationship has become over the course of the novel. Paul has been placed on paid leave while the police investigate the case. Quinn notices how little Paul seems to have slept and wonders if Paul is plagued by guilt over what he did to Rashad. Quickly though, Paul reveals that it is not guilt that keeps him up at night. Paul knows Quinn saw the arrest and seems desperate for Quinn to hear his side of the story. Reluctantly, Quinn listens as Paul defends himself. Paul’s version of events is drastically different from Rashad’s account. Paul paints himself as a responsible police officer responding to a crime. Whether Paul is earnest or cynical in his attempt to justify his actions is left to the reader, but Quinn is skeptical. He does not believe Paul’s version of events, and feels that the anger and brutality Paul displayed do not match the supposed crime Rashad committed. Paul senses Quinn’s doubt and angrily leaves. His look and tone convey that their once-strong relationship has been ruptured by what he perceives as Quinn’s betrayal. The theme of perspective is explored throughout the novel, and in this conversation, such diverging versions of the same event lead to questions of believability and whether there is one ultimate truth.
The novel Invisible Man acts as an allegory for the actions unfolding in the novel. The comparison between the bigotry and violence depicted in Ralph Ellison’s novel and that portrayed in All American Boys reveals that although racism has changed form since the 1930s, it is still present. Compared to the novel's teenage protagonists, the adults in All American Boys are, on the whole, more cautious when talking about or taking action on the issues of police brutality and systemic racism that are raised by Rashad’s beating. In this novel, young people refuse to be quiet and refuse to let Rashad become invisible, even though he is not physically present in the school due to his injuries. Quinn’s decision to speak out in English class is a turning point—the first time in the novel he stands in solidarity with Rashad. When Tooms, Quinn, and then the rest of the class read aloud excerpts from Invisible Man, it is an act of resistance, an insistence that everyone should be talking about what has happened rather than remaining silent to avoid controversy.
During basketball practice, controversy and tension bubble to the surface. Though their coach tries to order the players to leave their disagreements outside the court, that has become impossible. Guzzo and some of the other white players insist on defending Paul’s actions, angering many of their teammates, which leads Tooms to “accidentally” elbow Guzzo during practice. The conversation that follows between Quinn and Guzzo in the locker room shows how much the two friends have diverged within a few short days. Quinn is actively grappling with issues of racism, police brutality, and whether his role as a white person will be to reinforce or challenge the status quo. Guzzo refuses to consider any opinion that criticizes his brother and his brother’s actions. At the end of the practice, with the rest of the team in a huddle around them, the two friends finally agree on one thing: their friendship is over.
The letter Rashad receives from his ROTC instructor, Chief Killabrew, brings up the motif of the uniform and what it represents. Rashad is uncertain how to interpret the letter, especially because the values idealized in the ROTC creed do not match Rashad’s experience at the hands of uniformed police. His father’s disclosure further deepens this contradiction. Rashad’s father rarely shows emotion or vulnerability; his decision to tell Rashad about the grave mistake he made as a police officer is an attempt to connect with his son. Although Rashad’s father is himself a Black man, as a police officer he racially profiled Black youth, assuming that because of how they dressed they were more likely to be criminals. What happened with Darnell, the boy he shot and paralyzed, shows the consequences of that type of thinking. Rashad is shocked by what his father shares. Having always looked up to his father, Rashad now has to contend with the idea that for Darnell, his father is no different than Paul Galluzzo is for Rashad. Yet, their conversation also represents a turning point and suggests a way to bridge political divisions and one-sided narratives: that all police officers are bad people who only want to abuse their power or that all youth of color who dress in a certain way are criminals. While their conversation is painful, it is a moment of honest connection, where Rashad and his father let down their defenses and allow themselves to be fully seen by the other.
Mrs. Fitzgerald is an older Black woman who grew up during the civil rights movement. Her life experience, coupled with her distance from Rashad personally, allows Rashad to open up to her in a way he finds difficult to do with his own family. She correctly reads that Rashad is scared about going to the protest. In their conversation, she admits that when it was her turn to stand up against racism and injustice she let fear control her. She encourages Rashad not to make the same mistake she did, and instead to have courage. After she leaves, Rashad continues his drawing of one figure getting punched through the chest by the other. Until now, he had drawn the figures as faceless silhouettes. When Rashad draws a mouth on the figure getting attacked, it symbolizes his decision to take back his power, face his fear, and stand up for himself and his community.
