Dear Martin

Justyce is an observant and empathetic person who is trying to find the best path for himself. He struggles with the realities of racism in the United States as well as among his own community at Bras Prep. He butts heads with his friend Manny's friends, the "crew"—four white teenagers named Jared, Blake, Kyle, and Tyler, who are covertly, and sometimes overtly, racist. He writes about the systemic racism that he faces on a daily basis in letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and tries to apply Dr. King's teachings to his life.

In Chapter 6, Jus learns that he has been accepted to Yale. In Chapter 9, Jus wins the state debate tournament with his debate partner, SJ. In Chapter 14, at the end of Part 1, Jus's best friend, Manny, is shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Jus, who was sitting in the car with Manny, gets shot in the shoulder but survives. He spends the rest of the novel dealing with the grief of losing his best friend and the anger at this senseless act of violence. He is attending Yale by the end of the novel.