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I was lucky enough to receive one class set from my administrators of the book "All American Boys," a book about police brutality and systemic racism, and planned to teach it Spring of 2020 prior to COVID-19. COVID-19 led to me being unable to implement the novel. I left feeling bummed but thought "this will be great next year sometime." Days later, George Floyd was murdered and the world (justifiably) erupted with anger. A quote from the novel stuck with me daily as I watched the world burn with anger and the injustices our Black communities, and other oppressed communities, have faced for far too long: "I had seen this happen so many times. Not personally, but on TV. In the news. People getting beaten, and sometimes killed, by the cops, and then there's all this fuss about it, only to build up to a big heartbreak when nothing happens. The cops get off. And everybody cries and waits for the next dead kid, to do it all over again. That's the way the story goes" (59, Reynolds & Kiely). It was written in 2015. Five years later and the story still goes on. Books like "All American Boys" tell these stories. This isn't a book we can afford to wait until "next year sometime" or whenever it is convenient to slip into the curriculum. These are books and voices our students need to hear NOW. Students need a place for these discussions. ELA classrooms need to provide a platform to help start this overdue shift in education. Next year my classes will be much larger, and I will have a larger group of students. I am seeking enough copies to allow students to take it home with them rather than exclusively reading in-class.

About my class

I was lucky enough to receive one class set from my administrators of the book "All American Boys," a book about police brutality and systemic racism, and planned to teach it Spring of 2020 prior to COVID-19. COVID-19 led to me being unable to implement the novel. I left feeling bummed but thought "this will be great next year sometime." Days later, George Floyd was murdered and the world (justifiably) erupted with anger. A quote from the novel stuck with me daily as I watched the world burn with anger and the injustices our Black communities, and other oppressed communities, have faced for far too long: "I had seen this happen so many times. Not personally, but on TV. In the news. People getting beaten, and sometimes killed, by the cops, and then there's all this fuss about it, only to build up to a big heartbreak when nothing happens. The cops get off. And everybody cries and waits for the next dead kid, to do it all over again. That's the way the story goes" (59, Reynolds & Kiely). It was written in 2015. Five years later and the story still goes on. Books like "All American Boys" tell these stories. This isn't a book we can afford to wait until "next year sometime" or whenever it is convenient to slip into the curriculum. These are books and voices our students need to hear NOW. Students need a place for these discussions. ELA classrooms need to provide a platform to help start this overdue shift in education. Next year my classes will be much larger, and I will have a larger group of students. I am seeking enough copies to allow students to take it home with them rather than exclusively reading in-class.

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