How It Went Down

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon was published in 2014. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in 2012. I wouldn't have been surprised if this story took place before Trayvon Martin.  We just weren't paying attention before then. Not like we should have been.

At the Native American panel that I attended a few weeks ago, I asked blogger Debbie Reese about why we were only really publicly seeing the outrage now, in the age of social media. Why is it that these issues of white people shooting minorities and people of color, of racism in our children's books, has taken so long to be a daily part of discourse?

It's social media, she said. Social media is huge in giving people voices, in making complex issues into retweetable, bite-sized chunks that can be quickly disseminated. It keeps the conversation going.

While reducing huge issues like this to little bites is problematic, it's important to have that conversation be a part of our everyday. Especially when your everyday doesn't include a bunch of racism directed straight at your face, because you are in a position of power. I'm at a certain disadvantage because I'm a woman. I'm at a huge advantage because I'm white and it's important to be aware of where you stand. Of who you're standing on to be where you are.

In How It Went Down, Tariq Johnson is shot and killed by a white man as part of a small misunderstanding. We never hear his voice, but each chapter is told in the voice of someone who was there, or who was connected to him, or who will profit or be ruined by his death. Some are touched only tangentially, some directly. There is, unfortunately, but honestly, no resolution for Tariq. Nobody goes to jail. No justice is served. Nobody is shown as escaping the neighborhood, or becoming any better or worse despite having the entire community in upheaval. Magoon shows how such a terrible can change the hearts of many people, yet the system will continue to roll onwards.

We are reminded to be suspicious of other's motivations, but also kind. We are all trying to do the best in our lives, to take care of ourselves and our families, given the opportunities that we can see. The characters in Magoon's story are very realistic in how they speak, act, and think. It's an appealing book because of this. The language is very close to that in street lit, but with more distinctive voices than the street lit that we read, and more realistic reactions to the events.

One of the key moments for me, which I think would touch some young readers as well, was the interaction between Will and his stepfather, who had "risen up" out of the bad neighborhood, and taken Will and his mother with him. He expects Will to do the same, and to dress nicely, and attend a good college. Will is smart, and wants an education, but spends his nights tagging and making street art in his old neighborhood. He knows where he came from, and doesn't want to forget or lose that part of his history. He tells all these reasons in his narration, and is trying to explain his actions and the pull that he feels after Tariq's death, and you have to trust his narration. His narration is all that you have until you hear his stepfather's voice, when his stepfather looks at Will and realized that what Will has been trying to say all along is "This could have happened to me".

This could happen to any young black man.

That's a truth so deep, so ingrained, it can't be said.

Will knew it so deep in himself, it couldn't be expressed in words. It was his truth. It's the truth for so many young men.