All American Boys

On Wednesday night, Rashad’s mother, who has decided to press charges, arrives with the lawyer she has hired. The lawyer says that this should be an “open-and-shut” case (269). Rashad gives his mom Katie Lansing’s card.

On Thursday morning, Dr. Barnes tells Rashad his internal bleeding has stopped and that he will be discharged in a few hours. Clarissa comes to check Rashad’s vitals and to say goodbye, and he shows her his finished drawing of the beating. Clarissa notices only one figure, Rashad, has facial features. Rashad explains, “It’s impossible to ignore him. He has a face. He deserves a face” (273). Before departing from the hospital, Rashad leaves the drawing in his room as a thank-you for Clarissa.

As soon as he gets home, Rashad hurries to his computer to search for the hashtag #RashadIsAbsentAgainToday. He discovers his story has been covered in all the newspapers and cable news, and people have dug up photos of him from social media as they argue about the situation. As if he’s watching a “car wreck” (278), Rashad can’t turn away from the commentary, even when finding comments about his father being “a dirty cop” (278). Rashad looks up the kid his dad shot and paralyzed, Darnell Shackleford, and decides that “this protest, this whole thing, was also for him” (279).

Spoony, English, Shannon, and Carlos come over and English says that everyone, including himself, has been “on edge” (279). They discuss the protest, which the boys will miss basketball practice for, and Rashad learns that Jill and Rashad’s crush, Tiffany, are the main organizers. Even Rashad’s mom is involved, as she asked Pastor Johnson to round up some supporters. Spoony suggests that once they reach the police station during the protest, they should have a “die-in” (282), where they lie on the ground in protest, creating “the most powerful statement [they] can make” (282) by reading a list of names, which Spoony has yet to explain further as the chapter ends. 

It’s Friday morning, the day of the protest, and Quinn calls the police to make a statement as a witness of Rashad’s arrest. The police aren’t particularly interested, as they already have many witnesses, but Quinn is satisfied to say in affirmation, “I know what I saw” (286). A police tank arrives at the high school, adding to Quinn’s already significant nervousness, but he reminds himself to follow his father’s example. While his father was probably “scared shitless” in Afghanistan, his strength came from acting strong “even though he was afraid” (289). Jill tells him that this protest is history being made, and adds, “I want to make sure I’m on the right side of it” (290). Quinn and Jill decide to attend the protest together.

After school, Jill and Quinn join the “river of people” walking to Jerry’s, “chanting and waving signs” (293). Thousands of police line the route from Jerry’s to the police station, with rifles and tear gas, along with a row of police tanks, and Quinn films the police force as it passes. He records a voiceover for his brother as he does so, explaining that their father “died for freedom and justice” and asking, “[W]hat the hell did he die for if it doesn’t count for all of us?” (294). Quinn goes on to reflect that while some may consider the march unpatriotic, it is actually “goddamn All-American,” and Rashad, asking “only to be seen and heard and respected,” may one day be considered “the ‘All-American’ boy” (294).

When they reach the Police Plaza, everyone lies down for the die-in, and someone reads the names of all the unarmed black men and women killed by police in the last year. Quinn wonders if he’s really become “so numb” that he needs to witness this level of violence “in order to feel the beat of compassion in [his] chest” (296). As the chapter ends, Quinn tries to spot Rashad in the crowd, thankful that at least his classmate’s name is not on the list.

On Friday morning, Rashad wakes up sick with nerves about the protest. His mom comments that Rashad’s father experiences similar stomach problems when he’s nervous, and Rashad remembers his dad was sick earlier that week. For perhaps the first time, Rashad realizes how deeply his dad cares about him—that maybe his father was sick from seeing Rashad in pain, or from knowing “deep in the pit of his belly” that Rashad is innocent (299).

Rashad looks through his old Family Circus clippings to calm down, but he realizes that the idealism and innocence of the cartoon “seemed almost silly now” (301). As he prepares for the protest, he decides to take off the bandages concealing his broken nose. Rashad wants people to “see what happened” and to realize that because of this incident, he “looked different and […] would be different, forever” (303).

Rashad, his mother, Spoony, and Berry arrive at the protest to find so many people that it’s “unreal” (304). As the crowd parts for them, Rashad sees his friends, his teachers, Tiffany, his ROTC team in uniform, Pastor Johnson, Katie Lansing, and even Clarissa. He sees people young and old, black and white, Asian and Latino—a scene “straight out of an Aaron Douglas painting, except there were faces” (305).

The crowd chants “Spring-field P-D, we don’t want brutality!” (306) as they approach the police station, with Rashad and his friends in the lead. They reach the Police Plaza to find Rashad’s dad standing outside; he locks arms with the others, joining in the chant. Next, the die-in begins; everyone lies flat on the ground, and after a moment of hesitation, even Rashad’s father joins in. From her spot on the ground, Berry speaks into a megaphone, saying, “[We’re here] not for Rashad, but for all of us!” (307). She goes on to read the names of the unarmed black men and women killed by police, with the crowd repeating after each name, “Absent again today!” (308) For the second time in a week, Rashad is lying on the concrete with “tears flowing down [his] cheeks,” but this time, he is “thinking about each one of those names” (308).

The novel ends with a brief chapter that alternates between Quinn’s and Rashad’s points of view, as the two lock eyes while lying near each other during the die-in. Quinn, of course, recognizes Rashad, and this time he wants to witness “the guy beneath all the bullshit too many of us see first” (309). Rashad, on the other hand, doesn’t know Quinn, but he “felt like [he] did” and can tell this “white guy” is “thinking about those names too” (310). Rashad affirms to himself that he is proud “that [he] could represent” all the other African-Americans affected by police violence, and his narration ends with the statement: “Rashad Butler. Present” (310).

The final page of the novel zooms out to a third-person view of the scene at the Police Plaza, and in the center of it all are “two boys, in focus. Two boys, clear. A new tomorrow, an arm’s length away” (313). The narrative ends with the suggestion that to create “a new tomorrow,” or hope for the future, people must come together despite differences of circumstance and race.