Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely met with the eager young readers in the Book Club to discuss All American Boys, the young adult novel they co-authored about how systemic racism and police brutality affect the lives of young people in America. The novel won the 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award as well as the inaugural Walter Dean Myers Award from We Need Diverse Books.

Prior to the author visit, one member of the Book Club at the DC Jail, MB, said, “I can’t wait to meet the authors. I want to ask them ‘what made you choose to write this story?’ I think it must be because of all the stories about people like Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, the woman in South Carolina…There are so many I don’t even remember them all.”

Another member, DJ, said, “I am ready to meet these authors because I’m trying to write a book that is based on what we go through in the streets. I know this is a great opportunity to learn from a couple of really good writers.”

Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely had just met on a book tour for young authors when the George Zimmerman verdict was announced. After being initially hesitant to even talk about Trayvon Martin, they discovered that despite their differences in race and background experiences, they had similarly strong reactions and felt the need to respond. They decided to write a book together.

“As a black man and a white man, both writers and educators, we came together to co-write a book about how systemic racism and police brutality affect the lives of young people in America, in order to create an important, unique, and honest work that would give young people and the people who educate them a tool for talking about these difficult but absolutely vital conversations,” the authors said in a statement.

This Free Minds visit marked the end of a book tour that began at Ballou High School in early October, just days after All American Boys was first published. This tour took them all over the country, including to Ferguson, Missouri to talk with teens about the novel.

It is no accident that the tour began and ended in DC. Jason Reynolds grew up close to Ballou High School. The minute he began to speak to Book Club members, he connected with them through his knowledge of shared DC culture, from hip hop and go-go music to neighborhood landmarks. This Book Club session began with a solid block of laughing and connecting. Jason shifted the mood as he told Book Club members that he did not read a book that he didn’t have to read for school until he was seventeen. He talked about not finding himself or his life in required books such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies, or even in books with black characters set in the past by James Baldwin.

Jason moved into more personal stories from his childhood, painting a picture of DC in the late 80’s and of himself as a young man who didn’t sound destined to become an award winning author. But he and Brendan Kiely are: All American Boys is a 2016 Coretta Scott King Honor Book and is the inaugural winner of the Walter Award from We Need Diverse Books. Jason described being a teen, in a car with friends, in a world with no cell phones or cell phone cameras, being stopped by police for no apparent reason out by Iverson Mall.

Brendan told the Book Club members a little bit about himself. A teacher from Boston, he grew up in a community where people sometimes told jokes around the dinner table that were not alright with him. Brendan then told a story about being seventeen and stopped by police for the first time with a group of friends. Unlike Jason, he said he was stopped for a completely obvious reason: driving well over the speed limit. Brendan acted out the conversation he had with the police officer in two voices, showing how he sweet-talked the white police officer and got off with a friendly warning.

Jason and Brendan each read a scene from the book, in the contrasting voices of protagonists Rashad and Quinn. The Free Minds members jumped in with great questions. “Is the cop racist?” A conversation between members emerged about defending yourself versus brutalizing another human. “Can a black person be racist?” Jason and one of the Department of Corrections staff spoke about systemic racism and how inequalities in power and history distinguish racism from stereotyping and prejudice. One of the corrections officers talked about working in a jail in another state with a predominantly white population and still, most of the incarcerated people were black and brown.

Several Book Club members read their poetry, while Jason, Brendan, and everyone in the room listened quietly and intently.

At the end, Book Club members approached the authors to express their appreciation for the visit, for the book, and for the discussion. Jason and Brendan autographed the copies of All American Boys for the teens.

After the visit, Jason and Brendan reflected on the evening: “Meeting the young men serving time at the DC Jail, young men who laughed and joked, and goofed around with us as much as they listened, asked tough questions, and challenged us to think harder about our own book was a humbling experience—one that would prove to anyone the value of an incarceration system that strives for restorative justice as its primary purpose, and remembers that everyone deserves the opportunity to become their best selves.”

Executive Director Tara Libert said, “We are so grateful for the authors not only for the amazing book and incredible discussion that it generated, but also for exemplifying hope through their personal friendship. It was very meaningful for the teenagers in the Book Club to see two people who were able to bridge the racial divide; it was important for them to see in person, rather than just reading about it, the importance of respecting different experiences and perspectives. Jason and Brendan are two incredible people for embarking on this book project that sparked an empowering and enlightening discussion. They are also leading by example through their own friendship and fearlessness in talking about issues among themselves, demonstrating the kind of courage and compassion that we as a society can aspire to in order to bring about healing.”

An Open Book Foundation, a DC based non-profit organization that brings authors to disadvantaged children and teens, partnered with Free Minds to bring Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely to the Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop and provided each Book Club member and staff with a copy of All American Boys.

Thank you to Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely, An Open Book Foundation, and the Department of Corrections for making this event possible.

Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely, Free Minds Staff

From left: Book Club & Reentry Manager Keela Hailes, Author Jason Reynolds, Co-founder & Book Club Facilitator Kelli Taylor, and Author Brendan Kiely outside the DC Jail

 

By Janet Zwick

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