Summary
The preliminary hearing breaks for a recess. Thousands of protesters are outside the courthouse stomping and shouting. They chant, “No justice, no peace!” and carry signs of support for Jerome. There are police wearing riot gear and riding horses. Mainstream media outlets have vans and reporters covering the story.
Protesters also picket outside Sarah’s house. Jerome visits her because it reduces some of his loneliness. Sarah says her parents don’t want her to read news reports about the case. Sarah realizes that there may be video. Jerome warns her not to look it up online, because then she’ll know her dad is lying. He doesn’t want to see her hurt. They watch the short clip together.
In two seconds, the footage shows Jerome standing and a police car moving fast. Jerome turns, falls, and the gun skitters. Sarah confirms that her father didn’t warn Jerome or say, “Halt, police.” The rest of the video shows her father and his partner standing over Jerome’s body. Neither attempt to revive Jerome or get him medical attention. The article says that paramedics were too late. Jerome sees the moment his spirit leaves his body, like rising smoke. Sarah’s face is bleak. She apologizes to Jerome and says she would hold him if she could. Jerome wishes he could hug and be hugged.
Returning to the preliminary hearing on April 18, the 9-1-1 operator is being interviewed. The lawyer cites how the transcript of the emergency call spoke of a toy gun, but she—the operator—didn’t tell the reporting officers this. The lawyer asks if the operator, who is fidgeting nervously, knows that Tamir Rice also died because officers thought his toy was real. Jerome says that it wouldn’t have made a difference if they’d known it was a toy.
Jerome comments that Sarah’s school is much better than his was. It has facilities, funding, and most students are white. His school had nothing—not even a librarian—and was mainly Black and Hispanic. Sarah is in the library talking with Ms. Penny, the librarian. She wants to know about Emmett Till. Ms. Penny says she’ll learn about that upsetting case when she’s older and learns about civil rights. Penny says Emmett’s death began the African American Civil Rights Movement, which involved the desegregation of schools, trains, and buses. There was the March on Washington, the Voting Rights Act, and so much more.
Ms. Penny says Till’s mother was very brave and insisted on an open casket for her son, writing “Let the world see what I have seen.” Sarah wants to see. After a moment of consideration, Penny says she was the same age as Sarah when she saw the picture of Till in his casket. She googles the image and shows Sarah. Jerome turns away, not wanting to see. As he leaves, he hears Sarah sobbing.
Jerome keeps walking once he is out of the school. Leaves are budding, and living people are talking, laughing, and making plans. Emmett joins him. He speeds up, telling Emmett to go away and leave him alone. Then Jerome stops, and says, “Why were we killed?” Another ghost appears; he wears a gray hoodie. Emmett says he was killed about six years ago in Florida. Jerome yells to the kid, but he keeps walking.
At the courthouse, Sarah’s father is called back to the stand. His beat-down appearance almost makes Jerome feel sorry for him. The prosecutor confirms that Moore didn’t identify himself as police, or order Jerome to put down the gun. Moore fired from the police car before it had come to a complete stop. He confirms that Moore offered no aid when Jerome was lying on the ground. The room erupts into chaos. The judge adjourns the court for the day, to begin again tomorrow at nine a.m.
Jerome comments that his grandmother has been walking Kim to school; Carlos walks her home. Carlos tries to entertain Kim, telling her about San Antonio. She is happy to hear he isn’t going back, and Chicago is home now. Jerome likes Carlos. Jerome observes how sad he is when Grandma or Kim aren’t looking, and how he gives them a big false smile when they are. Jerome says that, if he squints, he can imagine that Carlos is Jerome himself.
Analysis
Rhodes further develops the theme of systemic racism in the “Me & Sarah” chapter. The presence of so many anti-racist protesters and activists at the preliminary hearing is explained by the revelation that there is a viral video of Jerome’s killing. Though reluctant to watch it, Jerome and Sarah see how Officer Moore and his partner disregarded standard police procedure by shooting Jerome on sight, neglecting to use the de-escalation techniques that would have given Moore a moment to assess the threat level. Making matters worse, the officers neglect to render medical aid as Jerome lies dying on the ground—an action that reveals their unconscious bias against Jerome, whose life they see as not worthy of even attempting to save. For Sarah, the video clip confirms the injustice of what happened.
When the 9-1-1 operator testifies at the hearing, Rhodes makes direct reference to the case of Tamir Rice, a Black boy who police fatally shot in 2014 while he was playing with a toy gun. In Rice’s case, the person who phoned the police on him mentioned that he was likely a juvenile playing with a toy; however, the 9-1-1 operator didn’t relay these crucial pieces of information to the responding officer who killed him. In a parallel that the prosecutor points out, the 9-1-1 operator in Jerome’s case similarly failed to pass on the information, which may have meant the difference between life and death. In both cases, racial bias–induced fear of the emergency operators led them to focus on the most threatening-sounding aspects of the caller’s descriptions of the boys.
Rhodes introduces the theme of social progress when Sarah visits her school librarian to discuss Emmett Till. Having met the ghost of Till, Sarah is curious to know his story. Ms. Penny explains that because of Mamie Till’s brave decision to show the world how badly her son was mutilated, anti-racist activists were galvanized to advocate for the political and social advances won during the civil rights movement.
While Ms. Penny is unsure how much of the grisly details she should share, she ultimately decides that it is important for Sarah to apprehend the extremity of what Till and his family went through. Jerome, however, is not ready to see what happened to Till, and he turns away as Sarah sees the images of Till in his open casket—a sight that tens of thousands of mourners came to the funeral to see.
The theme of support and honoring the dead arises when Jerome comments on the fact that Carlos has stepped up to take Jerome’s place as a big-brother figure to Kim. Carlos charms and entertains Kim with stories of his life in San Antonio, and she reveals her affection for him by being happy when he says he’s never moving back. Jerome appreciates Carlos’s efforts to honor his memory by looking after his little sister and providing company for Grandma. However, Jerome notices that Carlos’s good-natured smile disappears whenever Kim and Grandma aren’t looking. Just as Jerome used to feign happiness for their benefit, Carlos is evidently disturbed by the remorse he feels for having given Jerome the gun that got him killed.
