Summary
Part 4 begins with another free-verse-style section called "BINARY" which begins with the statement "There are two kinds of people in the world" (215) and then lists binaries. Before Richard's trial begins, his lawyer filed an appeal to the judge that Richard should be tried as a minor and the decision "that the 16-year-old Defendant was irredeemably a depraved ‘criminal’ offender who should be permanently deprived of the rehabilitative and parental reunification objectives and treatment originally provided to all … juvenile offenders" (217) was cruel and unusual, and thereby unconstitutional. The judge swiftly disagreed and denied the petition.
Richard is already familiar with the routine at Juvenile Hall because he went there when he was fourteen. The staff remembers him as rambunctious and needy, but overall a good kid. He is more serious and withdrawn this time around. He keeps to himself, does decently in school, and looks forward to worship on Sundays. He encounters the kid who robbed him at gunpoint, the one he considered a friend. He forgives him, knowing what it's like to have hurt someone who didn't deserve it.
Jasmine's mind swirls with "what ifs" about Richard. She blames herself for not getting him out of Oakland, for not getting him involved in more extracurriculars, for not going to the police station when she suspected it was him on the news. But she reminds herself of her faith in God, that he has a plan. She wants very badly to meet with Sasha and their parents, to express her sorrow and apologies, but Debbie feels that it is too soon. Debbie appreciates the gesture, but cannot face Richard's family quite yet.
Sasha and their parents attend the first evidentiary hearing, and Jasmine rushes over to them after it's over and apologizes on behalf of her son. She hugs them all, and the rest of Richard's family follows suit. By the end of the encounter, both mothers are in tears. Armando Pastran, the DDA, remains unmoved by the encounter, convinced still that Richard himself has shown no remorse for what he's done.
A similar petition to the one Sasha submitted to the White House website is posted a year after theirs, and this one receives over a hundred thousand signatures, thereby warranting a response from the government. The response is non-commital, but recognizes the importance of providing non-binary gender options on government forms. Sasha attends the Oakland Gaskell Ball with their friends and their partner, Nemo, wearing a beautiful ball gown made by Teah's mother, who is a costume designer. Sasha revels in the Victorian beauty of the evening; they feel pretty and surrounded by prettiness and warmth and are happy that the people around them see them as feminine for a change. They say, "What I want is for people to be confused about what gender I am" (232). So to be usually seen as a male is often a disappointment to them.
Slater introduces the concept of "restorative justice" or RJ which is a form of counseling that involves an intervention with the offender and the victim and each of their families. RJ is used for special juvenile cases where there seems to be an especially promising chance for rehabilitation. In the best cases of RJ, the case is diverted from the justice system, the relationship between the offender and victim begins a process of healing, and the offender never repeat-offends. But there is no chance that Richard's case will circumvent the justice system—even his lawyer calls RJ "a distraction," saying there was absolutely no way the DA would go for it (243). Sasha's mother Debbie is also skeptical. The only recommendation she wants to make is that Richard be tried as a juvenile; beyond that, she wants to stay out of it and put the whole case behind them.
Almost completely healed and claiming to be, as far as they can tell, untraumatized by the attack, Sasha prepares to leave for MIT. They say they don't feel hated because of the outpouring of support from all over the world. They say, "I felt like one person hates me—maybe" (248). As Sasha leaves for MIT, Debbie can't help but remember the therapist who diagnosed her daughter with Asperger's, who told them that if Sasha was lucky, they would be able to "hold down a low-level job doing data processing" (251). Clearly, that particular therapist severely underestimated Sasha's potential.
A plea bargain on the table offers Richard a five-year sentence with time served that would allow him to be released from prison before his twenty-first birthday, but when Richard reappears in court a few weeks later, the DA takes the deal off the table. The new offer is seven years in a state prison. The sentence could be reduced to five years if Richard complies with the terms of a rehabilitation program to the letter. Du Bois is furious, recognizing all the ways he could receive an undeserved black mark on his disciplinary record while serving time in a juvenile facility. DA Nancy O'Malley suggests that while Richard awaited a sentence, he couldn't make use of the resources in state juvenile facilities. The DAs grew impatient, and that's why the deal was pulled off the table. They wanted to get Richard into a state facility and on his way to rehabilitation. O'Malley suggests that Richard does better in structured, institutional environments, and even the people closest to him tend to agree with that statement. Cherie and his cousin Gerald look to Richard's friends as examples of the bad influences that constantly surrounded him on the outside. While Richard awaits trial, two of his friends are sentenced for carjacking and home invasion, each given five years in adult prison.
Debbie delivers a victim-impact statement, describing the effects of the attack on Sasha, but also entreating Richard to show compassion in the future towards people with identities outside of what he considers "normal." Once at MIT, Sasha joins the Epsilon Theta fraternity, what they call "a fraternity in name only" (265) because it is coed and alcohol-free. They seem to have found a community where they feel comfortable and thriving. Cherie tearfully accounts for her regrets, describing the various situations she and Richard and their friends find themselves in as seventeen and eighteen-year-olds. Of their group, "Skeet was dead. Ashley was a mom. Hadari and Jesse were serving time in the state penitentiary. Richard had been convicted of a felony" (267).
In January of 2015, Sasha finally receives the letters Richard wrote to them over a year prior. Sashas says they "sympathized with [Richard] a lot" (269), and their parents felt the same. They all wish they'd seen the letters sooner, because they would have changed their perspective on Richard. In the section, "THEN AND NOW," Slater describes changes to the California Juvenile Justice System over the last decade. When a panel of reformers came through in 2006, changes were enacted that took California's JJS from one of the worst to one of the best and most effective in the nation. Slater depicts the scene of a counseling session where Richard and the other best-behaving inmates gather and discuss risk factors and their progress. The lesson shown is about "risky thinking."
In June of 2015, Richard, Jasmine, Karl, Debbie, and Sasha go to court for Richard's second progress report. His first reports showed that he was making great efforts to cooperate in juvenile hall and contained no negative marks. Due to his file being misplaced, the judge was unable to review the case, but he allowed Karl to make a statement on behalf of his family. In his statement, Karl talks about the letters Richard wrote to Sasha two weeks after the fire. He says that he believes Richard feels remorse for what he's done, and that he and his family have forgiven him. The following week, the judge determines Richard has demonstrated behavior and maturity warranting a lessening of his sentence to five years, and that the totality of the sentence would be served in a juvenile facility.
Slater concludes with separate send-offs for Sasha and Richard. For Richard, she describes the simple, quiet life he has made for himself in juvenile hall, staying out of trouble and earning the highest level of incentives for his good behavior. He works the best job available at the facility where he earns nearly ten dollars an hour removing waste from commercial sites. He starts paying down the fine that was part of his sentencing. In a few years, he will return home and start anew. For Sasha, they went back home during a break from college and made a digitally scanned copy of the 1001 index cards full of in-jokes from high school. They reflect on the years of identity searching, recovery, support, and forgiveness.
Analysis
Part 4 begins with another free verse style section, as the other Parts of the book have begun. This section, titled "BINARY," lists several binaries like "Male and Female," "Gay and Straight," "Saints and Sinners," "Guilty and Innocent," and begins with the statement, "There are two kinds of people in the world" (215). Of course, the narrative of this book is far from endorsing that statement, and if anything, the stories presented here are meant to show the differences between people are far more subtle and complex than that. The irony of the poem is that even by presenting all these binaries, it contradicts its opening statement. Because with so many different binaries, there will still be an infinite combination of them present in a single person. One could be a Male, Gay, Innocent, Saint or a Female, Straight, Guilty, Saint or a Male, Straight, Innocent, Sinner and on and on.
The theme of binaries goes beyond identity politics and is also relevant to the juvenile justice system. The black-and-white policies of the '80s, '90s, and early '00s subscribed to the idea that there were good and evil cases: kids that would respond to rehabilitation, and kids that were lost causes, without empathy or conscience. The "super-predator" theory has since been disproved, and juvenile justice is moving back towards leniency.
In the section, "THE PEOPLE VS. RICHARD ----," Slater drops a few lines at the end that refer back to the free-verse structure at the beginning of Part 4, describing the judicial system's "own unassailable logic," as "Guilty vs. innocent. / Prosecutor vs. defense attorney. / Victim vs. offender" (244). In this way, the idea of binaries emerges as a motif in The 57 Bus, and Sasha's family, Richard, Jasmine, Kaprice, all the people closest to the case, interrupt that binary and challenge notions of what it means to be a victim and what it means to be an offender. Is someone always an offender once charged with an offense? Can an offender also be a victim? These are some of the central questions of the text.
Another theme of The 57 Bus is forgiveness. Slater demonstrates how every person close to the case has, at one point, to consider forgiveness. For most of the people in this book, the person they have to choose whether or not to forgive is Richard. But even Richard grapples with his own forgiveness. The boy he considered a friend who robbed him at gunpoint ends up serving time in the same residential block as Richard in juvie, and Richard decides to forgive him. Slater writes, "Richard told Jasmine that he’d accepted the apology because he knew what it was like to have wronged somebody. He, too, hoped to be forgiven" (220). And Jasmine says what she's always said to Richard, to forgive, but not forget. Richard responds in a way that demonstrates the self-reflection he's done after hurting Sasha: "To forgive, you have to forget ... Because otherwise you haven’t truly forgiven" (220).
In the section "PROGRESS REPORT," Karl delivers a moving statement to the court and to Richard. In it, he too discusses forgiveness, and talks about the letters Richard wrote in the weeks after his arrest, "'He asked for our forgiveness.' Karl’s voice broke. 'Sasha, Debbie, and I have forgiven Richard,' he whispered. 'We hope the state will focus more on preparing him for the world beyond incarceration than on punishing him'” (286). The judge promises not to take Karl's words lightly, and in the end, Richard's sentence is reduced to five years and time served, meaning that if he continues on his current track, he'll be out of prison before his twenty-first birthday. This section demonstrates the importance of communication and perspective. Debbie, Karl, and Sasha were not allowed to see the letters Richard wrote until long after restorative justice was offered as a counseling option. Had they known that Richard showed remorse immediately after being incarcerated, perhaps they would've considered meeting him soon, meeting Jasmine sooner, and participating in some form of counseling.
