What does it mean to seek justice in our world?

This winter I had the opportunity to read two powerful works of nonfiction by Dashka Slater, The 57 Bus and Accountable:  The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed. I first heard about the two books when I read Slater's New York Times articles about both events.  Reading the articles left me wanting to know more about what had happened with each incident.  They both take place in parts of the Bay Area that I know well having spent 7 years there as an educator and college student.  Part of the power of these two books is how they are written.  Each section of the books is small and looks at the issues from a different lens or person's point of view  laying forth a nuanced and thorough telling of events that might otherwise seem cut and dry.

The 57 Bus refers to the public bus that two students in Oakland take to school who live very different lives.  There is Sasha, a genderqueer teen who attends a small private school called Maybeck High and lives in a middle class neighborhood in the foothills.  Then there Richard, an African American teen who attends a large public high school, Oakland High and lives in a rough part of Oakland.  They only spend 8 minutes together on the bus, but then in a thoughtless act where Richard lights Sasha's skirt on fire while they sleep on the bus, their lives become intimately intertwined as their families and communities wrangle with what it means to bring justice to the situation.  The book is divided into 4 parts:  Sasha, Richard, Fire, and Justice.  We get to know each teen well and then there is an in depth exploration of the crime and how justice is sought.  It is a heartbreaking series of events that ultimately leads to redemption and changed lives for both teens.  It is a powerful tale for our time and is a valuable read for teens and their parents.

Accountable:  The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives it Changed is  a story that is equally heartbreaking but seems far less resolved in the end.  There was no sense that justice was served or that many of the perpetrators ever really were made to fully understand the harm caused.  My husband attended Albany High School and I knew of the privileged space it occupied as a teacher who taught at Richmond High School that was 10. miles north and worlds apart.  Albany is a town of educated liberals many of whom work for UC Berkeley.  The people of Albany pride themselves on being informed and sophisticated in their understanding of race and racism.  Albany High has many classes where race is addressed and students have conversations about racism making it all the more shocking that this happened in their community.  The posts on the Instagram account were simply awful, but Slater is again able to cut through all the noise and sensationalism of the media and help us understand the complexity of the events and the people who were impacted.  Like the 57 Bus, it is told in a series of short pieces focused on peeling back the layers and understanding the context and perspectives of those involved.  One of the most thought-provoking pieces in the book is a section titled, Questions of Harm:

Were you harmed if your picture wasn't on the account, but your name was?
Were you harmed if your picture wasn't on the account, but your race was?
Were you harmed if your picture was on the account but you were Asian or white?
Were you harmed if you were male?
Were you harmed if people said you were on the account but you never saw the post?
Were you harmed if your best friends couldn't stop crying?
Were you harmed if you once shrugged off the jokes?
Were you harmed if everything looks different now?
Were you harmed if you decided to forgive?
Would you have been harmed if the account had never been hidden?
Would you have been harmed if it had never been found?

Slater does extensive research to listen and tell the stories of those involved.  For each of the teens willing to talk with her, she shares their struggles, hopes and humanity.  As she states in the author's notes at the beginning of the book:  "True justice requires listening with curiosity and compassion to the human stories behind the headlines.  Only then can we begin to repair what's gone wrong and reach for what's right."  

These two works of fiction are special and offer a place for authentic dialogue around issues of equity and diversity and racism.  Slate also has some wonderful resources to help work with these texts:
The 57 Bus Discussion Guide
Accountable Resource Page