The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime that Changed Their Lives (2017)

“There must be something you can do.”

By addressing the reader directly, Slater makes the point that the encounter between Richard and Sasha has its roots in political, economic, and social structures in which we are all complicit. Though this line imagines that the reader could have prevented this specific incident, the larger point is that we must take action to prevent incidents like this from happening again. 

“Our lives make footprints, tracks in the snows of time.”

Slater’s use of imagery signals her commitment to telling this story more closely and with more emotion than standard reporting might. By comparing lives to “tracks in the snows” she is suggesting our lives are ephemeral and impermanent, which is both in support of, and in contrast to, the way Richard’s actions impact him and Sasha and their families. 

“It might feel awkward at first, but you’ll get used to it.” 

This passage relates how Slater explains Sasha’s preference for the pronoun they. She does so in the context of how various languages “embody the obsession of the people who speak them” (14), citing examples of languages that are interested in animate versus inanimate objects and how some languages prioritize gender, while others don’t use pronouns at all. In addressing the reader directly, Slater is informing the reader they are part of the story and the experience and will have to be uncomfortable or awkward, just as the characters she describes are—the reader is not separate or apart from the conflicts and conversations that happen in the book.

“That seemed to be true for most people. They just knew.” (“How Do You Know What Gender You Are?)

Sasha’s decision to identify as agender and to use the pronouns they/their/theirs comes after they interrogate friends and family about how those people knew the identities they claimed. Sasha eventually realizes that “just knowing” might also be the case for them: they just know they aren’t one thing or another. Sasha’s experience in trying out and eventually choosing a label to describe them is made more difficult by the binary culture in which they live, but their inquisitiveness and own self-determination help them to get to a place where they are comfortable naming themselves. Still, Slater points out, it shouldn’t be so hard to make space for all kinds of people in a language. 

“…Sasha’s newfound willingness to speak up, to stand out, to be seen.”

Much is made of how Sasha’s decision to identify as genderqueer or agender required Sasha to become a more public figure and cast off the “invisibility cloak” (21) that they had worn for so long, Sasha’s parents are proud of Sasha but also—justifiably—concerned that Sasha’s commitment to being true to themself will bring unwanted or negative attention.

“Nobody seemed to care which bathroom they used. Or if they did, Sasha didn’t notice.”

These seemingly innocuous lines suggest that Sasha was unaware of, or oblivious to, any attention they might attract by their decision to use whichever bathroom was easiest. Here, Slater foreshadows that Sasha’s lack of concern for that attention might be part of what allowed them to doze off on the bus, preventing them from noticing and avoiding Richard’s attention. 

“He didn’t bother ruminating on what he’d been singled out, why the men had assumed he was gay. It was just a random event. A onetime thing. Not likely to be repeated.”

Slater breaks into her narrative to include this story from Karl’s experience as a young man. The episode appears unconnected to the section before or after, and Slater’s style of reporting means it is unclear as to whether she or Karl is the one has the thoughts described in this quotation.

“‘What about the kids who aren’t either one?’ Sasha asked. ‘Which clipboard do they go on?’”

This innocent-seeming question about the way Karl’s kindergarten class is sorted according to Girls and Boys typifies the way Sasha’s own explorations into binary gender constructs help others reconsider their own preconceptions. Karl doesn’t initially understand the issue: “He couldn’t imagine that kindergarteners would care about gender one way or the other” (50), but on reflection, he realized that assumption wasn’t true.

“Can I get in your program?”

These six words come as a surprise to Miss Kaprice, and perhaps to the reader; Slater includes them to demonstrate how desperate Richard was to find a way out of the bad influences in his life and to redeem himself. This is also further evidence for Richard’s good intentions and raise the question as to how much his developing adolescent brain was able to process what he did on the bus that day, and what the consequences would be. 

“Now it’s a good day.”

This line comes from one of Skeet’s last Facebook posts before he is killed. He has run away from his group home and has taken to social media to share phots of himself with a gun, alcohol, and cough syrup. Slater presents his caption as unironic: a “good day” is one on which kids do illegal, dangerous things—not a day when they do well in school or at a job. Slater uses this line to remind the reader that Richard comes from a place where values and priorities are not the same as the ones where Sasha comes from. 

“I need a good laugh” 

This line is what Richard says as he boards the 57 bus, and it gives some indication as to why he accepts the lighter from Jamal and decides to put flame to Sasha’s skirt: it’s an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment decision—just doing something to do. Several times in the book, Slater points out that Richard had no thought of the consequences of his actions, or he if did, those thoughts were fleeting and unformed: he just needed a good laugh.

“‘Well,’ Sasha said, ‘It came true. What you were always worried about.’” 

Sasha says this to Debbie while they wait for the ambulance after Sasha has been set on fire. Debbie has worried that something will happen to Sasha because they look and dress differently; Sasha identifies this is the reason for the crime immediately, even though they weren’t awake when it happened and don’t know who did it: they just instinctively know. While Sasha has long reassured Debbie and told her not to worry, these lines make it clear that Sasha was aware of the potential for violence, for actions to be taken against them because of their appearance. 

“Richard never called.” 

Richard’s mother, Jasmine, happened to be watching television when she saw her son being walked into the police station, handcuffed. Though his face was not visible, she recognized him right away. Richard used his one phone call to reach his father, instead of his mother, with whom he lived. Slater uses this quote to highlight the ripple effects a crime can have—the feelings of guilt and shame that can come between family members and friends and all the ways in which crime and punishment can divide and separate us. Jasmine didn’t see her son for six days, and Slater invites the reader to consider what that torture must have been for a mother.

“‘I’m not with that,’ Richard said, ‘I wouldn’t say that I hate gay people, but I’m very homophobic.’”

These words are taken directly from the transcript of Richard’s interview with the police and are evidence Richard may not have fully understood what “homophobic” meant when he used the word to describe himself. Much of this story hangs on Richard’s actions being a hate crime, which is, in some ways, an easier explanation to accept than that it was a senseless act of random violence perpetrated out of boredom. The hate crime aspect is part of what made the story national news, and yet, Sasha’s gender identity may have been the least motivating factor. 

“He compared the criminal justice system to ‘a great mill which, somehow or other, supplies its own grist, a maelstrom which draws from the outside, and then keeps its victims moving in a circle until swallowed in the vortex.’” 

Slater is quoting from an 1884 book by John P. Altgeld which helped create a juvenile justice system distinct from the system for adults. Altgeld was part of a movement that insisted young people should not be seen, tried, or punished the same way adults were. Slater traces how this social movement arose, out of compassion and a desire for rehabilitation and then how it went out of fashion about 100 years later. Slater invites the reader to consider the social and cultural influences that might have shifted this landscape.

“The result is that while teenagers can make decisions that are just as mature, reasoned, and rational as adults’ decisions in normal circumstances, their judgment can be fairly awful when they are feeling intense emotions or stress.”

Slater spends this section providing physiological evidence for how teenagers think differently from adults, especially when they are under the influence of their peers and/or in intense situations. The question as to the amount of responsibility Richard has for his own actions is difficult to answer: he knew right from wrong and was able to assess his own behavior after the fact, but in that moment on the bus, Slater makes the case that he might not be able to take full ownership of his choices. That doesn’t absolve him of the crime, but it makes a strong argument for not charging him as an adult. 

“And then he felt bad and weird about feeling bad and weird.”

Slater is describing why Andrew, who had once considered Sasha “the most important person in the world” (178), doesn’t visit Sasha in the hospital. In this moment, Slater uses Andrew as a stand-in for anyone who can’t bring themselves to take an action or for not knowing how to take that action, whether it’s because of uncertainty over which terms to use to address someone or how to offer comfort. Moreover, Andrew is afraid to visit Sasha because “of seeing what could happen to gender-nonconforming people” (179). While Sasha’s attack helps raise awareness about hate crimes in a public way, in private moments it leaves other people feeling alone and afraid.

“‘They couldn’t figure out who to root against,’ Karl explained. He grinned. ‘It was a really hard time for the neo-Nazi community.’”

Karl is commenting on how a neo-Nazi website seemed to struggle with this story, wanting to see a young black man as a criminal but hesitant to defend a “trans kid wearing a skirt” (192). Karl’s ability to find humor in this is an example of his resiliency, which is possible mainly because Sasha lives and recovers. Richard’s family cannot joke about what has happened, but others on the side of “right” can—for example, Dan, who helped put out Sasha’s flames, later jokes “I’m sorry for what happened to you. But man, I benefited big-time out of it” (211).

“There are two kind of people in the world. / Just two. / Just two. / Only two.” 

Slater opens the section titled “Justice” with a statement about how there are just two kinds of people—“gay and straight […] saints and sinners” (215). The implication is that Richard must either be good or evil and punished accordingly; because the earlier text has gone to great lengths to explain that there are many more than two kinds of people in the world, the implication is that Richard is not simply good or evil, guilty or innocent, and that we must prepare for some gray area. 

“God works in mysterious ways.”

Both Jasmine and Richard turn to religion for solace, comforting themselves with the idea that things happened because God made it that way. Sasha’s family does not invoke divine will or influence, but this kind of faith is important to Richard and Jasmine. 

“That was the story as she saw it: Richard did well when he was confined and poorly when he wasn’t. Clearly, then, the solution was to keep confining him.” 

Slater is summing up a district attorney’s view of Richard’s success in Juvenile Hall. As Slater points out, the D.A. isn’t necessarily wrong, as Richard’s grades are better than ever, and he is in a safe, structured environment, whereas friends of his on the outside have gone on to be implicated in more criminal activity. Slater manages to imply a question about the D.A.’s conclusion, however, tacitly giving the reader the space to wonder if there wasn’t, in fact, another possible solution. 

“I wish it had turned out differently for Richard. We got Sasha back. But poor Jasmine. She lost her son for years.” 

Debbie and Karl’s sympathy for Jasmine is a hallmark of how the two families feel bound together by the fire Richard set that day. It’s also a reflection of the tremendous humanity Debbie and Karl bring to the ordeal, finding a way to forgive Richard, have empathy for his mother, and hold only best wishes for their future. An unanswerable question is whether they would feel the same way had Sasha not survived their injuries. 

“Thank you, Richard mouthed.” 

Karl’s address to the court, which comes after his family has received Richard’s letters of apology, offers Richard forgiveness. In these lines, Richard accepts that forgiveness. Slater’s fascination with this case is clear: a young man sets a person on fire then, less than two years later, is thanking that person’s father for the speech he makes in support of the very person who held the lighter. Slater contrasts the gray areas of human behavior and emotion against the more rigid and constrained rules of law.