Summary
Chapter 24: "What Are You Doing Here?"
The Under Thirteens set out on the bus for Athens, Georgia to take on the Athens United Gold Valiants. Luma led the way in her yellow Volkswagen. About an hour into the hour-and-a-half drive, Luma was pulled over by a policeman due to her broken brake light. As she pulled over, the bus continued past. The police took Luma's license back to his car, then returned saying that her license had been suspended and that he would have to arrest her. By this point, Tracy had turned the bus around and was pulling over near Luma and the policeman, just in time for the players on the bus to see Luma's hands handcuffed behind her back. Luma asked for the cuffs to be taken off so that she could give Tracy the players' cards for the referee, so that they'd still be able to play. The policeman allowed her to do this, and she told the boys that she wouldn't be at the game but still expected them to win. Some of the boys started to cry, and as the bus pulled away, one player in the back of the bus saw Luma get into the back of the police car.
While the Fugees got off the bus in Athens, Luma was being signed in at the Walton County jail. The policeman and clerk paused to ask about her name, using it as a way to ask about her national origin. The clerk even rudely asked what she was doing in the United States. Luma was fingerprinted, her wallet and sweatshirt were taken, and her bail was set at almost $800.
Back in Athens, Tracy tried to motivate the team to play well, but they were badly shaken and facing a more wealthy, skilled team to boot. The Valiants scored three times in the first quarter of the game, and the Fugees were disorganized, arguing and not playing as well as they had in warm-ups. At halftime, the Valiants led 5-0 and their coach decided to switch up their positions. The Fugees argued their way through halftime, but seemed to pick up their energy. They didn't score any points in the second half, but they didn't allow any more goals either.
Sitting in her jail cell, Luma started to think about her home and family in Jordan. Eventually her name was called; Tracy was there to pay her bail and take her home. When she got outside, the team bus was there. The players told Luma about their defeat and she apologized for not being at the game. The team did not seem to have lost all confidence, though; they told her that they were better than the other team and would have won if she'd been there.
Later that night, the younger brother of Grace Balegamire called Luma to say he was sad. Luma told him to "Quit it" (262), but then decided to pick up some sweet rolls and go to the boy's house. She told him about her bad day with the police. She explains how Tracy had to pay "Five hundred ice creams" (263) to get her out, but this leads to uncomfortable questions since the boy's father was still in prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Chapter 25: Halloween
On October 27, there was a riot at the prison where the Balegamires' father was being held in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Luma decided that with the recent negativity of her arrest and the Balegamires' worries about their father's safety, she would give the Under Thirteens a treat. She would take them trick-or-treating for their first Halloween. Luma bought all of the players ninja costumes, loaded them up on the YMCA bus, and took them to a wealthy part of Decatur where Halloween would be in full swing. The houses were decorated, well stocked with candy, and kids swarmed the streets. The Fugees quickly learned how to ask "Trick or treat?" (266) and most were respectful of taking only one or two pieces of candy per house.
By the end of the night, the Fugees had full bags of candy and were tired and content. Some of the boys discussed how different Halloween was from anything they'd experienced in Africa. That night, lying in bed, Grace was woken by gunshots. He was afraid, and stayed awake long enough to hear police arrive, look around, and then leave without making any arrests.
Chapter 26: The Fifteens' Final Game
One day, Natnael asked his friend Joseph why he never told him that his father was dead. Joseph replied that he didn't tell many people. He tried to make Natnael understand why he didn't cry about his father's death, since he didn't know him. A few minutes later, they reached the field where Joseph would be cheering on Natnael and the Under Fifteens in their final game of the year. The Fugees were being happy and playful, but Luma warned them to focus.
In the first half, the Cobb YMCA Strikers scored 2 points on the Fugees. Luma called the team to her and asked them harshly why the other team was winning, calling the players "a bunch of idiots" (276) and saying, "This is a waste of my time" (276). The boys were hurt by this but decided to prove to their coach that they could play good soccer. While the Fugees did manage to get one goal in the second half, the final score was 3-1. Luma was not as angry after the game, but she still scolded the players for their many sloppy mistakes, telling them that if they wanted to come back next year they'd have to follow her rules better.
Chapter 27: My Rules, My Way
While the Under Fifteens' season was over, the Under Thirteens were still a motivating force for Luma. The boys had bonded together and learned to keep their cool during games. Their last game of the regular season was against the Georgia Futbol Club, which was a stronger team than the Fugees with some major wins earlier in the season. However, Luma and the Fugees still went into the game confident. Before the game, the Under Thirteens decided to pray together; Grace offered a Christian prayer in Swahili and Eldin a Muslim one in Bosnian, and everyone followed up with "Amen" (281) and "Amin" (281).
In the game, the Fugees got an early lead of 1-0 and held onto it until halftime. Luma reminded them that a one point lead was not enough, and soon the Fugees scored another goal to make it 2-0. The Georgia Futbol Club did score one point near the end, but the game finished 2-1, Fugees. With this win accomplished and no red cards, the Under Thirteens finished third in their division. As a reward, Luma registered the Under Thirteens to play in the Tornado Cup Tournament, where they would compete against some of the best teams in the state.
Chapter 28: Tornado Cup
Luma planned an intense week of practices for the Under Thirteens leading up to the Tornado Cup, but rainy weather caused her to cancel the practices early in the week. However, they were still able to have their planned scrimmage against the Under Fifteens on the Thursday before the tournament. While the Under Thirteens were the more organized team, they played sloppily against the Under Fifteens, allowing them a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half. At halftime, Luma regrouped with the Under Thirteens, urging them to focus, and the Under Fifteens regrouped by themselves, knowing they were being embarrassed by their slim lead against the younger boys. By the end of the game, the Under Fifteens had pulled the score up to 3-1, but they still felt embarrassed, especially Muamer, an Under Fifteens player who had fallen into a muddy puddle in front of everyone.
That Saturday, the Under Thirteens arrived at the tournament, scoping out the other teams with their matching gear and accompanying parents. The Fugees would face the Blue Springs Liberty Fire, a team they beat earlier in the season, in their first tournament game. Blue Springs had ranked just one point below the Fugees in the division rankings, so the team was ready to play aggressively. Luma went in the game worried because the Under Thirteens' shooting was weak. Sure enough, the Fugees missed quite a few shots in the first half, and the score was 1-0 with Blue Springs ahead at halftime.
Luma scolded the Fugees at halftime and they went into the second half with more focus. Soon after they went back on the field, they brought the score up to a tie. At the end of the game, the Fugees won 3-1. When the team came back over to Luma on the sideline, she told them that after the first half she had wanted to make them run laps all season, but that the second half almost gave her a heart attack. The Under Thirteens applauded. However, many of the players had been injured in the game, and since they had won they would have to play again in an hour.
The Under Thirteens played their second game against the Strikers. The Fugees scored the first point, but they eventually lost 2-1. They were scheduled to play a game on Sunday, but Luma was not sure if this loss would knock them out of the competition. Luma had arranged for a full-team sleepover at the YMCA so she could make sure her students were fed, rested, and on time in the morning. The boys got set up in sleeping bags, Luma turned on a movie, and they drifted off to sleep. Meanwhile, Luma logged onto the tournament website and found that the Fugees were still in it, and would be in the finals if they won just one more game.
The Fugees' morning game was against the Concorde Fire, a team from a very expensive soccer academy. The Fugees needed a clear win to get to the finals, so Luma got the team motivated, scoped out the Concorde Fire's best players, and reminded everyone to stay focused and calm. The Fugees went out strong, but the best player for the other team, a boy named Jorge Pinzon, broke up all their plays. Close to halftime, the Fugees scored. However, Luma warned them that they needed two more points to have a solid lead. The Concorde Fire scored first in the second half, but the Fugees retaliated to bring the score to 2-1. Word started to spread about the vicious match-up, and spectators began to gather on the sidelines calling out the names of Fugees players. In the final moments of the game, the Concorde Fire scored a goal to tie the match. The Fugees were disappointed, as was Luma.
Holiday time came, which meant time off from school for the Fugees players. Luma told the Under Thirteens and Under Fifteens that she would take them to a tournament in Savannah in January if they raised $1,000. They accomplished this mostly through car washes and raking leaves. Luma spent Christmas visiting with her players' families and delivering food.
However, on December 26, Luma got a nasty surprise. A letter was faxed to her announcing that the Fugees would no longer be allowed to use Armistead Field for practices. The team was supposed to have three more months on their trial period, but Mayor Swaney would not return any of Luma's calls. Luma brought the case to the City Council and poked many holes in the mayor's story, but the problem remained.
Without their nice field, Luma had to find another space to practice for the tournament. She looked on Google Earth, zooming out and out until she was looking at the entire United States and then the world, thinking about how the Fugees fit onto the map.
Epilogue
Between 2006 and the publication of Outcasts United, many things changed for the players and their families. The Balegamires' father was released from prison and left the Congo with hopes to emigrate to the United States or Europe. Mandela and Luma made up. She suggested that he get away from Clarkston for a while by applying to a Jobs Corps program in Kentucky; he graduated from the program in 2008. Other players were accepted to academic institutions such as universities and private schools. However, the author is careful to note that not all of the players were successful; many still struggled with learning English in schools that were not well-equipped to teach ESL and were dropped from the Fugees for not meeting academic expectations.
Some players and their families even left Clarkston. They moved across the United States, many joining communities of refugees from their countries of origin. The Ziatys left Georgia for Iowa in 2007, and Generose and her sons and daughter moved to Indiana. Ive, Generose's youngest son, was surprised to find out that Indiana was in the United States, not another country. As players left, more also arrived in Clarkston, and Luma turned her attention to newer and needier children.
In January 2007, the author of Outcasts United published an article about the Fugees that received massive national attention. As a result of this media attention, Luma began to receive donations of money and gear, as well as volunteers to help with the tutoring program. Luma was able to build a tutoring center and soccer facility within walking distance of Clarkston; this tutoring center was soon expanded into a school called Fugees Academy. Furthermore, Luma was able to start a girls' soccer team.
Analysis
From the title of Chapter 24, "What Are You Doing Here?" the reader can tell that the major takeaway from this chapter is the way Luma is treated because of her race and national origin. Instead of treating her with respect, the workers at the jail make fun of Luma's name and question her place in American society purely because she is an immigrant. This chapter shows that, though Luma led a relatively privileged life before coming to the United States, she is still discriminated against in the country she chose as her home. The dark irony of this is that Luma chose to live in the United States because of the freedom she felt it would allow her.
The experience also helps Luma connect emotionally with some of her players. Even though her experience was enraging, she realizes while talking to Grace that he and other Fugees have family members who were jailed during political turmoil in their countries. Unlike Luma, they could not post bail and rejoin their friends and family; their current circumstances and fates were uncertain. Thinking about this, Luma sees that her being handcuffed and taken to jail was perhaps as traumatic an experience for some of the players as it was for her.
The chapter about Halloween is one of the most light and positive in tone in the entire book. Because they are in costume and following the rules of the holiday, the refugees are treated like any other children. However, the author brings the reader back to reality by describing how Grace was woken later that night to the sound of gunshots. Grace lies in bed in fear, thoughts of his happy time trick-or-treating banished from his mind, which reminds the reader of the daily struggles faced by the Fugees and their families.
The climax of the book is the final game the Under Thirteens play in the Tornado Cup tournament. Each game of the tournament is described in vivid detail so that the stakes are very high by the final game. However, the author does not sugarcoat the outcome: the Fugees tie the game, meaning they do not continue on in the tournament. Luma and the team are disappointed, meaning there is not much of a catharsis in the climax. This reminds the reader of the nature of a nonfiction book; it must present reality, without a neatly tied-up happy ending.
The final chapter of the book ends on a particularly sour note because Luma receives notice that the team will not be allowed to use the gorgeous field in Milam Park anymore. The timing feels particularly ironic since the note comes at a time of great cheer, the day after Christmas. This ending shows that there was still much work to do for the Fugees to be accepted in their town. However, the author does uplift the reader with an epilogue which details many of the successes of the Fugees players in secondary school and even higher education, thanks in large part to Luma.
