Dear Martin

Stone, Nic. Dear Martin. 2017. 210p. ISBN 9781101939499. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Justyce McAllister is the top student at his private school, and is ready to graduate and attend an Ivy League school. A free scholarship student, Justyce managed to escape the thugs and drugs from his neighborhood, and is on the path to a valuable contribution to society. Coming back from a party, he notices a girl from his school passed out by the side of her car, and he helps her into the back seat. The police arrives at the same time, and the officer witnessing this scene handcuffs Justyce despite his protestation that he was just helping the girl. As an African-American, Justyce is keenly aware of the prejudices that many police officers have, but he is still surprised that it would happen to him. This incident is eventually dropped, but it mars Justyce’s conscience.

Throughout his senior year he writes letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, challenging the Reverend’s teachings on race relations and hopes for the future. Unfortunately all of the letters are one-sided, as Dr. King can’t write back. The police officer that arrested Justyce is killed, causing more questions to be asked. When Justyce and best friend Manny, also African-American, go for a ride in Manny’s Range Rover, they have a deadly encounter with another white police officer who turns out to be the partner of the first officer who arrested Justyce. Manny is shot to death at the wheel of his vehicle, and it takes Justyce all of his willpower to survive the fallout and the following court case. Throughout it all, Justyce questions the value of a life, the negative issue that plaque society, and his role in it. Can Justyce find some justice in what happened?

Dear Martin deftly addresses several current issues, including race relations, social media exploitation, gang violence, and police shootings of unarmed African-American men. Readers interested in the immediate impact and aftermath of a shooting, as well as those attracted by social justice will appreciate Justyce’s quest to find answers to his questions and see if Dr. King’s teachings remain valid fifty years later.

For a similar take on social justice and solving a gross miscarriage of justice, take a look at This is My America.