Summary
At the beginning of Part 2, we learn via news transcript what happened after Chapter 14: the white man driving the Suburban shot Manny and Jus, and one of them was killed. We also learn the white man's identity; his name is Garrett Tison, and he is an "officer with the Atlanta PD" (123). He was off duty when he opened fire on Manny and Jus.
Following this news transcript, we get Jus's eighth letter to Martin, in which he reveals that Manny was the one who was killed. His letter is extremely short—just three lines—and Jus is evidently devastated. He writes, "I can't do this anymore" (124).
In Chapter 15, Jus is at Manny's funeral, twenty-seven days after the shooting. Jus reveals that the Rivers family decided to postpone Manny's funeral until Jus was well enough to leave the hospital and attend it. The funeral is incredibly difficult for Jus, who decides not to go up and look at Manny's body during the viewing. Part of Jus doesn't want to be there at all: "He would love to just get up and walk out. Keep going until his legs fall off or he dies from thirst or starvation or exhaustion or some combination of the three" (126). Manny reveals that the media has been building up a storm of "speculation" about the shooting and that there are many reporters waiting outside the church. He also notes that the media has started calling him "The Boy Who Survived"—a nickname he reviles. Jus's arm is in a sling and causes him pain—he has to relearn how to use it after Tison shot his shoulder and caused extensive nerve damage. Mr. Rivers gives Manny's eulogy and Jus sees familiar faces in the crowd: SJ, Melo, and Manny's "crew." He wonders if Jared feels partially responsible for Manny's death, since he was so upset about Jared's father pressing charges against him that day they went for the ride. After the service, Jus and Mama go to the bathroom where Jus runs into SJ. He tells her that he misses her. Mama catches Jus talking to SJ and says that he should be careful with her—obviously, she picks up on the more-than-friends energy between SJ and Jus. Jus can't find it in himself to fight back against his mother at that moment. They leave the church and are surrounded by a mob of reporters. Bodyguards direct them safely to their car.
After Chapter 15, we are given a news article entitled "Tison Indictment: Step Forward for Justice or Grand Jury Blunder?" In the article, the writer updates readers on the Tison case, noting that a Georgia grand jury decided to indict Tison on multiple counts, including aggravated assault and felony murder. As the author of the article notes, this "stands in glaring contrast to the Nevada and Florida cases involving the deaths of Shemar Carson and Tavarrius Jenkins," in which the officers were not indicted. The article goes on to note Tison's "community [is] in an uproar" about Tison's indictment, as they believe that he is an honest man who was, as Tison's neighbor put it, "'defending himself from thugs'" (131). According to the article, Tison's community held a "solidarity rally" in support of the former police officer (who seems to have been let go from the Atlanta Police Department). It also notes that Tison's trial date "has yet to be announced" (131).
In Chapter 16, Jus goes to Manny's house to have dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Rivers. He drives there in his brand-new car, which was a gift from the father of one of Jus's classmates. Jus feels dread as he drives up to the Rivers's house. Nevertheless, he forces himself to enter, and Jus and the Rivers have a nice, but mostly silent, dinner together. All three of them understand the intensity of their shared grief. Jus reveals that he's going to go back to school on Monday after several months of absence, and that he is still on track to graduate in May. The Riverses tell Jus that there are several reasons that they invited Jus over to dinner. Of course, they wanted to celebrate the indictment, but they also want to relay to Jus that Quan Banks, who is currently in juvie, has been asking to see him. They also give Jus an old Heuer watch that they were intending to give Manny for his eighteenth birthday. It has been in their family for generations. Jus is emotional at the sight of this gift, and he wordlessly accepts it.
In Chapter 17, Jus goes to visit Quan Banks in juvie. He is overwhelmed by the fact that he's about to enter a juvenile detention center and talk to the guy who confessed to killing Officer Castillo—the same man who "profiled Jus" and started him on his "Be Like Martin" experiment in the first place (138). Jus walks into the detention center, where he has to leave his ID and keys at the check-in and is looked over by guards. One guard looks at Jus's outfit—"button-down, pressed khakis, and loafers"—and tells him to set an example for the boys inside the visiting room (139). Jus is escorted to the visitation room, where Quan is waiting for him. Quan gives Jus a smile that reminds Jus of them playing Monopoly together as kids. Jus and Quan greet each other and sit down to talk. Quan asks Jus how his recovery is going and reveals to Jus that Officer Tison and Officer Castillo were partners. Jus tells Quan about the events of Chapter 1, when Officer Castillo wrongfully arrested him. Jus takes in the fact that Quan seems to feel little remorse about shooting Officer Castillo. Jus asks Quan why he did it, but Quan evades Jus's questioning. Jus wonders if Officer Tison shot at Jus and Manny because of the night when Officer Castillo was shot. Quan eventually opens up to Jus and tells him that he shot Officer Castillo because one of his friends told him to: "'My dudes. . . they're like family to me. They've got my back as long as I have theirs. Somebody tells you to make a move, you make a move. No questions asked'" (143). He also tells Jus to "face reality"—according to Quan, white people have no respect for Black people, including Jus (143). He tells Jus that the only way to beat the "Black Man's Curse" is to "use the power you already got" and "get a. . .crew to roll with" (145). He suggests that Jus reach out to his gang members—the Black Jihad, who appeared on the night of the Halloween party—because they are the only ones who can truly protect Jus. He gives Jus Trey's number, and Jus puts the number into his phone.
In the next chapter, Chapter 18, Jus is trying to distract himself from wanting to call Trey. He is sitting in Doc's classroom after school when SJ comes running in. She tells Doc and Jus to turn on the TV and switches the channel to the news. There, they have a picture of Jus in his "Thug" costume from Halloween with everyone else cropped out. The news anchor is discussing the picture and suggests that "a picture speaks a thousand words," suggesting that Jus has a suspicious background in gang behavior (148). Jus is worried that despite the fact that people all over the country have been rallying behind Jus and Manny, this photo will sway the public's opinion in Officer Tison's favor. SJ, Doc, and Jus listen to a pundit suggest that Jus is "living a double life" and that "you can remove the kid from the thug life . . . but ya can't remove the thug life from the kid" (148). The anchor and the pundit also mention that Manny is Quan Banks's cousin, which leads them to speculate that Officer Tison saw them on the scene the night that Officer Castillo was shot. Before closing, he backs up Officer Tison's testimony: "Officer Tison says these boys pointed a gun at him, and after seeing this picture, I can't say I'd put it past them" (149). SJ turns the television off and they sit for a moment in silence. SJ receives a call from Jared, and she goes out to the hallway to tell him off. She assumes that he is the one who sent the picture from Halloween to the news channel. While SJ is out of the room, Jus tells Doc that he is no longer doing his "Be Like Martin" project because he thinks that it is useless. Doc tells Jus that the newscasters are defending Tison's actions because they would rather not accept that white people are capable of such violence. Jus wonders aloud why he should try to be "good" if everyone is so quick to assume that he is bad—an echo of his conversation with Quan in the previous chapter. Doc tells him that the only thing he has control over is himself: "'the only question that matters is this: If nothing in the world ever changes, what type of man are you gonna be?'" (152). Before Jus can answer, SJ comes back into the classroom and tells them that Jared did not send the photo to the news. Jared also wants to clear the narrative up and will be submitting the full photo—with everyone in their Halloween costumes—to the news as soon as possible. Jus is frustrated that it seems like Jared is suddenly changing his stance, but Doc reminds him that Manny was one of Jared's closest friends and maybe he is just trying to make things right. Doc leaves the classroom and Jus notices that SJ's nails are painted green, which she knows is his favorite color. SJ and Jus talk about the weirdness between them and decide to be friends again.
Following Chapter 18, we get an excerpt of a news article about Mr. Rivers being fired from his job after being photographed marching with the Justice for JAM movement. According to the article, the march "shut down traffic for hours last week and triggered the loss of several high-profile clients and approximately $80 million in revenue" for Mr. Rivers's firm (155).
Analysis
If the previous group of chapters are characterized by mounting tension, then chapters 15 through 18 of Dear Martin are characterized by an overwhelming sense of grief. After the break into Part 2, the characters in Dear Martin have to pick up the pieces and deal with the senseless violence that occurs in Chapter 14. Stone uses a transcript from the news to confirm that both Manny and Jus were shot by the white man. Manny has died as a result of his injuries. The man is revealed to be an Atlanta PD police officer, who was off duty at the time of the shooting.
There is a jump in time between the conclusion of Part 1 and the beginning of Part 2. Jus writes a short letter to Martin: "Dear Martin, He's gone. Never did anything to anyone, and now Manny's gone. I can't do this anymore" (124). Evidently, Jus's grief is overwhelming. The three short sentences that he writes to Martin create a powerful effect in their succinctness. They weigh heavily on the page, as if Jus cannot find the words to express the intensity of his mourning. By the time we are back with Jus, he is out of the hospital after having been shot in the shoulder by Officer Tison. His arm is still in a sling, and he is attending Manny's funeral. Another short, succinct sentence that stands alone as its own paragraph brings us into Chapter 15: "Twenty-seven days" (125). Stone brings the reader's focus to the specific amount of time that has passed between the tragedy and Manny's funeral to draw the reader's attention to the heavy grief that the characters feel in this moment. Nearly a month has passed since Manny's death, yet, everyone at the service is very upset. At the funeral, Justyce "takes in all the dark suits and dresses, the tearstained faces and shaking shoulders, and the collective sorrow hits him so hard, the room blurs out of focus" (126). Jus notices that even Jared's "crew" are visibly distraught over Manny's death. He and Jared share a moment of eye contact where Jus can see his own pain reflected in Jared's eyes: "As Mr. Rivers approaches the pulpit to deliver the eulogy. . .Jus sees Jared and the 'bros'. . . Jared turns around like he can feel Jus jabbing arrows into the back of his head. The moment they see each other (though Jared wouldn't know because of Justyce's sunglasses), fury wraps around Jus so tightly, he almost can't breathe. Even from a distance, Jus can tell Jared's eyes are haunted. Like the floor has opened up beneath him and there's no bottom to his agony. Jus recognizes the expression because he's feeling the same way. It makes him want to burn the world down" (127).
Justyce himself finds it hard to compose his emotions during Manny's service. In fact, he doesn't want to be there at all: "he would love to just get up and walk out. Keep going until his legs fall off or he dies from thirst or starvation or exhaustion or some combination of the three" (126). However, he is literally trapped in the room: Justyce is caught in a media maelstrom surrounding Manny's death, and he knows reporters are waiting to talk to him outside. The media plays a large role throughout Part 2 of Dear Martin. Often, readers get information from news stories and transcripts about what is happening with Justyce and Manny's case against Garrett Tison. However, the media is not necessarily a beneficial force. Often, it is covertly—and sometimes overtly—hostile towards Manny and Jus. The media allows for "speculation" about Manny and Jus's characters that causes Jus harm. Jus thinks about all of this during the funeral: "Problem is there are media people everywhere outside. Based on some of the 'speculation' he's heard—Manny threatened Garrett Tison, one of the boys threw something into Tison's Suburban, Justyce had a gun, etc.—he'd rather not be seen" (126). Despite the fact that Justyce would "rather not be seen," however, he has been placed in a hyper-visible position as the sole survivor of a police shooting. His name and face are going to be all over national headlines for the coming weeks.
As you read the news excerpts and transcripts throughout Part 2, notice that the news outlets clearly do not have an unbiased perspective. In particular, pay attention to the use of the passive voice when the news refers to Manny's death. In a subject that uses the passive voice, the subject is acted upon and the agent performing the action is omitted. Newscasters often employ passive voice when covering a police shooting in order to reduce some of the blame that is placed upon the police officers. For example, in the first news transcript of Part 2, the newscaster employs the passive voice to describe the shooting: "In our top story, tragedy in Oak Ridge this afternoon, where two young men in an SUV were shot at a traffic light" (123). In this sentence, Garrett Tison's decision to shoot Manny and Jus is completely removed from the sentence. This practice is not relegated to the world of Dear Martin—real-life news articles about police shootings often employ the passive voice as well.
The coverage also seems slanted in regards to Justyce and Manny's case against Garrett Tison. In the article "Tison Indictment Step Forward for Justice or Grand Jury Blunder?" the author of the article gives voice to members of the community that support Garrett Tison and who believe Jus and Manny must have been in the wrong. Among the people interviewed in the article is one of Tison's neighbors, who refers to Manny and Jus as "thugs": "'The man was defending himself from thugs,' said Tison's neighbor April Henry. 'I've known Garrett for twenty-five years. If he says those boys had a gun, they had a gun'" (131). This article is actively trying to clear Tison's name following the announcement that he is being indicted for several charges, including aggravated assault and felony murder.
As the media works to lift Tison up, it also works to push Justyce down. When Blake submits a cropped picture of Justyce's "Thug" Halloween costume to the news, the newscasters see it as an indictment of Justyce's character. During the segment about Justyce's "Thug" costume, the newscaster assumes that Justyce's costume is not an outfit and instead an indication of his potential to commit crimes. The newscaster says, "'We've heard about his grades, SAT scores, and admission to an Ivy League school. . . but a picture speaks a thousand words. This kid grew up in the same neighborhood as the young man accused of murdering Garrett Tison's partner more or less on a whim'" (148). Literary critic Laura Elizabeth Oldham offers a close reading of the newscaster's language in this scene. According to Oldham, the way that the newscaster organizes his sentence works to devalue Jus's character. The fact that they place the opposing argument first (that Jus has succeeded academically) but follow it with the word "but" allows space for them to equate Jus to Quan Banks because they come from the same neighborhood. Therefore, "the narrative the media communicates suggests that no amount of education can change a thug into an academic" (Oldham). As a result, viewers are given the message that educating young Black people is futile, no matter how much they have succeeded in the past, because they will eventually return to their neighborhoods and start committing crimes. Additionally, the newscaster perpetuates the narrative that boys who wear outfits like Jus's costume commit crimes. The media is perpetuating racist stereotypes; Justyce's entire identity is therefore reduced to the costume that he wore on Halloween. Doc tells Jus that the reason the newscaster is so quick to categorize Jus as a thug is because he identifies with Officer Tison: "'Look, Jus, people need the craziness in the world to make some sort of sense to them. That idiot 'pundit' would rather believe you and Manny were thugs than believe a twenty-year veteran cop made a snap judgment based on skin color. He identifies with the cop. If the cop is capable of murder, it means he's capable of the same. He can't accept that'" (151).
As Jus watches his character get defamed on the news, he begins to wonder what the point of remaining "respectable" is in the first place. Quan brings a voice to Jus's thoughts when Jus goes to visit him in juvie in Chapter 17. Quan tells Jus about what he calls the "Black Man's Curse": the "world's got diarrhea and dudes like us are the toilet" (144). In other words, in Quan's opinion, society dumps all of its evils on the backs of Black men. He tells Jus when he learned that lesson. It was his second time in juvie, when he was fourteen. He was in there with a white guy named Shawn who woke up in the middle of the night and stabbed his father. Shawn could afford excellent legal representation, however, and his lawyer "got some doctor to come in and say [Shawn] was sleepwalking" (144). Shawn got off. Meanwhile, Quan was locked up on a petty theft charge because it was his second offense. During his hearing, the prosecutor called him a "career criminal" (144). Quan gave up trying to work within the system after that experience. He asks Jus, "'Why try to do right if people will always look and assume wrong?'" (144). Quan's rhetorical question stays in Jus's head for a long time after they meet. He is asking himself the same exact thing. For his entire life, he has worked hard to excel in school and has worked his way into a selective preparatory academy. Despite this, he's still constantly being persecuted and knocked down by society. As Jus tells Doc in Chapter 18, there seems to be no escaping the persecution. Even Dr. King was killed despite the fact that he preached unity and peace: "'I've got one memory of the day everything happened: sharp pains in my chest and shoulder, and then not being able to breathe. In that moment when I thought I was dying, it hit me: despite how good of a dude Martin was, they still killed him, man'" (151).
Doc stresses to Jus during their conversation in Chapter 18 that the only thing Jus can control is his own behavior. In regards to Dr. King, he tells Jus, "'I don't think knowing he'd be killed would've changed the way he lived, Jus. He challenged the status quo and helped bring about some change. Pretty sure that was his goal'" (151). When Jus responds with skepticism, Doc tells him, "'You can't change how other people think and act, but you're in full control of you'" (152). He leaves Jus with these words: "'When it comes down to it, the only question that matters is this: If nothing in the world ever changes, what type of man are you gonna be?'" (152). Doc's message—to rise above the cruelties of racism and try to be a better man—does not immediately appeal to Jus. In the next section, he goes to visit Martel from the Black Jihad in the hope of finding a different point-of-view.
