Pepper Spray
The pepper spray has been symbolically used by the author to represent police brutality. Tawanda's brother is found dead in a drench, and the police acknowledge that they did their work, and the victim deserved the viciousness and violent arrest. The author says, “Two years on from her brother’s death, Tawanda felt like everyone else had forgotten the one thing she knew she’d never get out of her mind: the July day his body had lain on the sidewalk, drenched in pepper spray from the violent arrest by the police said he deserved.”
Tawanda as a symbol
The author uses Tawanda as a pivotal character and as a symbol of hope. Tawanda is a woman who does not give up, and she does everything to fight for the justice of her brother and all other black men who have died as a result of police brutality. She organizes demonstrations to push for justice, but it is not an easy task. She gives Freddie's mother hope that everything will be acceptable despite the many challenges she is going through. When Tawanda learns of Gray's brutal arrest, she decides to give his parents hope, something she never got when she lost her brother. The author writes, "Tawanda was eager to give the Gray family something she had not been afforded after Tyrone’s encounter with the police: Hope.”
The Police
The police are figuratively used by the author to illustrate impunity and lack of accountability. The policemen use unnecessary force when arresting black men. The black men are killed while being mishandled by the police. There is no single day that the policemen have been held responsible for their behavior of ruthless killings.
Freddie’s Death as a symbol
Freddie's death is symbolically used to emblem the quest for justice and movement against the police viciousness. Before the death of Freddie, signaled the fight against policy brutality through citywide demonstrations. The author says, "There had never been any citywide marches for Tyrone. But after Freddie died, the protests persisted for days, and Tawanda watched as the city was roiled by protesters shouting the very thing she'd have been screaming out every Wednesday for two years: that the Baltimore Police Department was the biggest gang in America, with the license to kill with impunity."
The symbol of the Siren
The sound of a police siren signifies police harshness in the black people's neighborhoods. The police department that is tasked with protecting the people is doing precisely the opposite because it targets black men and boys. Tyrone, Antony, and many other black men have been the victims of police brutality, and they all died due to injuries they sustained from the brutality of the police. The author writes, "The sound of siren strikes a different pitch depending on which neighborhood hears it.” In the black people's neighborhoods, the siren is a sign of bad luck brought by the police.
