I don’t remember a lot from my first time reading “Dear Martin”, but this has been my second time and I’ve completely devoured it in a matter of hours. 

I first read this book before the George Floyd murder, when Black Lives Matter was a movement that most looked over. After educating myself and surrounding myself and my social media feeds with Black people and their experiences, I feel that I’ve gained more from Justyce McAllister and his story. 

Justyce is a very unique character and I’m glad I got a look inside his life, which represents the lives of a lot of Black youth in America. This book is one of the firsts that I’ve annotated and I can assure you that from seeing Jus’s experiences through his eyes, I’ve gotten angry a lot but I’ve also learned a lot. 

From Jus himself to Manny, to SJ, and to Doc, I’ve learned about my own White privilege. I related a lot to SJ specifically because she is White and takes a very liberal stand. She has no problem getting into confrontation, which isn’t surprising considering she is Justyce’s debate partner. What I liked a lot about her, since she is a White character written in a book about racial inequality, is that SJ acknowledges her privilege and takes accountability. In one chapter she apologizes to Jus for speaking for him, which reiterates the whole “Don’t speak FOR or OVER Black people, instead raise their voices.” Basically, she’s all about using her privilege as a way to help oppressed minorities. She’s so awesome!

Another character that I admired (somewhat) that isn’t Jus was Jared Christensen. Throughout the entire beginning and middle half, he was one of the biggest reasons I tabbed the book with the color red when annotating. But his character development really shines through near the end, especially in the epilogue. It shows that he’s learned. And I was glad to see that Jus was that person who taught him. 

This book is just an all-around must-read. It taught me a lot — opened my eyes even — and I think that it should be on everyone’s TBR.