Dear Martin

Throughout the novel, Stone highlights Justyce's struggle to fit in at school and in his old neighborhood. At Braselton Prep, Justyce listens to classmates like Jared espouse on the color-blindness of America shortly after being arrested in a manner that was clearly an act of racial profiling. He grins and bears Jared's Equality Brigade idea, dressing as a thug and watching as Blake dresses as a Klansman, knowing that his thuggish appearance is a caricature of Black teens and that Blake's costume is disturbing in its representation of a violent and hateful ideology. In moments like these, or when Jared suggests that Justyce's acceptance to Yale has more to do with his race and a quota than it does with Justyce's qualifications, Justyce wonders how he is supposed to fit in that world. He isn't sure how to surround himself with people like his privileged, white classmates who don't see the injustices that still exist for Black people or recognize when they're being racially insensitive. Additionally, Trey and Quan serve to add to Justyce's struggle, pointing out Justyce's need for white folks to get to the top and questioning whether those white people will really let him get there. With this doubt, Justyce finds it even more difficult to ignore the behavior around him and feel comfortable in the prep-school environment.   

While Justyce doesn't feel that he fits in the all-white world of Braselton Prep, he also questions whether he fits in the Black community in which he grew up. Stone highlights Justyce's childhood in which he was bullied for his academic prowess and the isolation Justyce felt as a result. Justyce recounts that he spent much of his youth "anxious to get away from"(158) his old neighborhood. In wanting to escape, Justyce feels conflicted, wondering whether getting ahead means he is turning his back on his community. Trey and his friends at the party make comments about how he and Manny "don't wanna chill with [them]. They 'goin places'" (44), making Justyce feel like "some kind of race-traitor" (49). Stone emphasizes Justyce's struggle with walking the line between the pursuit of his dreams and not making the people he's left behind feel inferior.

In addition to Justyce's struggle to exist in two worlds, Manny's experience is nearly in reverse. Manny grew up with great privilege and sheltered from some of the harsh realities of being Black in America. While Justyce chafes at the racist jokes and inappropriate comments that Jared and his friends make, Manny reluctantly chuckles or chastises Justyce for being upset, saying he's "way too sensitive" (93). Jared and the others are Manny's lifelong friends, his peer group, and he makes excuses for them. However, readers see Manny struggle to fit in this world when he is clearly uncomfortable with Blake's costume and when he acknowledges to Justyce that he sold out and had shut his eyes against things when he "didn't like what he saw" (109).

After Manny punches Jared over a racist comment, Mr. Julian admits that he has sheltered Manny from racism that he still encounters. With this revelation, Stone explores the impact of being the son of highly successful and affluent Black parents and whether those parents should be transparent about their past and current experiences with racism. In the novel, Manny's father makes the case that had Manny been more aware of the way of the world beyond Braselton Prep, he would have been more equipped to handle Jared's remark and not react quite as emotionally. As Manny becomes more disillusioned with his role at Braselton Prep, the final blow comes with Jared's family pressing assault charges. This development leads to Manny's declaration that he's "done bending over backwards to appease white people" (118) and ultimately contributes to his brash dismissal of Tison.

Stone also explores Manny's concern as to whether he will fit in with the Black community. He worries about not fitting in at Morehouse because Justyce is his "only black friend" and he's somewhat intimidated by Black women. Stone includes Doc's revelation of his own teenage experiences, which were similar to those of Manny, as a means of emphasizing Manny's struggle to fit in each world. Doc echoes some of Manny's own trepidation when he shares his move from an affluent, mostly white school to a highly diverse public magnet academy. He describes feeling wildly out of place, even though for the first time he was in classrooms with students who looked like him. Stone uses these moments to explore what it's like for Black Americans who exist within a whitewashed bubble to enter a world where their Blackness is seen. Doc explains that at his new school, "the black kids expected [him] to know all the cultural references and slang, and the white kids expected [him] to 'act' black" (103). The same scenario is what makes Manny nervous about his future at Morehouse.  

Stone uses this novel to delve into the kinds of assumptions people make based on others' appearances, highlighting in particular how quickly those interpretations can change. First, Justyce mentions the death of Shemar Carson, a young man killed by police, and comments that despite all accounts that Carson was a good kid, "he did have kind of a thuggish appearance" (12), making Justyce unsure as to whether Carson did something to provoke the officer. In fact, Justyce goes on to point out that he is not thuggish in appearance; therefore, he never thought he would find himself in the same situation. When Justyce is arrested for helping his ex-girlfriend, he realizes that for some people, it is merely his Blackness that makes them assume he is "up to no good" (29).

Suddenly, Justyce realizes that certain aspects of physical appearance that he once thought denoted criminality are not always present in racial profiling. Another instance that Stone includes is the picture of Justyce dressed as the thug stereotype being released during Tison's trial. Prior to its release, much of the public rallied behind Justyce, trumpeting his "grades, SAT scores, and admission to an Ivy League school" (148). However, after the picture becomes public, talking heads start to question whether Justyce lived "a double life" (148), claiming that Justyce's movement to Braselton Prep couldn’t "remove the thug life from the kid" (148). Stone suggests that the public's opinion of Justyce, and other kids like him, was accepting when he was nonthreatening (as Justyce always perceived himself to be); however, after one image without any context, public opinion is swayed, proving to Justyce once again that his skin color plays a larger role in perception.

Stone even suggests that the impact of appearances affects outcomes within the criminal justice system. Despite clear evidence that Justyce and Manny were not armed and did not pose a threat, the jury could not find Tison guilty of murder because of Justyce's tenuous associations with gang members. Knowing that Justyce grew up around gang members and the more recent and minimal contact with those members is enough to cast doubt in the minds of jurors. Stone also highlights this idea when Quan admits that he gave up trying to do good when he realized that "people will always look at me and assume wrong" (144). In Quan's case, he didn't have the benefit of a stellar education or affluent friends; instead, his realization that his appearance influences the way others perceive him came early and resulted in his decision to embrace the fear his appearance induced and "do whatever it takes to stay at the top" (143).