Anger Is a Gift

At 1:52, Moss hears students in the corridor and he and his classmates get out of their seats. Their teacher reveals that they were sent an email telling them that there would be a walk-out and that they are not to let any students leave their classroom. However, he says that he will say he never received a memo and has no reason to stop them, so the students leave.

Moss and Rawiya meet up with Kaisha and Reg and head to towards the entrance, which is blocked with students. However, the students suddenly turn and run back towards them, pursued by police officers with batons. Njemile finds them and reveals that the police fired on them with a burning liquid that causes pain and swelling. Students pass in tears, their skin and faces swollen and distorted by the chemical weaponry.

As they head for the back exit, Moss and the others bump into Javier and his friends Carlos, Chandra, and Sam, who have snuck into the school. A police officer arrives and tells them to get on the floor. His face obscured by a helmet, he pulls a strange bullhorn from his belt, which they will later learn emits a frequency that upsets the inner ear of young people but is inaudible to adults. He points it and them, and Chandra and Sam drop to their knees and begin vomiting. It has no effect on the others and, while the officer is distracted trying to fix it, they run away.

They leave the building with the officer in pursuit and see a huge number of people gathered outside the school grounds holding placards and banners. A line of riot police stands inside the gate blocking the students from reaching them. The pursuing officer strikes Moss with his baton and pushes him to the ground, but the others help him up. Javier taunts the officer that he cannot do anything to him because he does not even attend this school. He quickly realizes that this only gives the officer an excuse to punish him for trespassing.

Mr. Jacobs arrives and screams at the officer to stop but the man simply strikes him in jaw with the baton before chasing Moss and the others once more. He catches Moss and starts beating him savagely with his baton. Javier throws himself on Moss to shield him from the blows. The other officers begin advancing as the students struggle to get away.

The first officer rips off his helmet in frustration and throws it at the fleeing students and the other officers call him by his name, Daley, and tell him to stop, advancing on him rather than the students. However, Daley has his gun in his hand and Moss turns to see him fire at Javier, who falls to the ground, bleeding from his chest and mouth. While Daley stands in a daze, Moss tries to stem the bleeding, but Javier dies in front of him.

Back at home, Moss tries so hard to scrub Javier’s blood from his hands that he ends up making himself bleed. Numb, he returns to the living room where Esperanza, Reg, Kaisha, Rawiya, and Wanda are all watching the news. Wanda notes the passive language used in the coverage, designed to avoid saying that the police officer murdered another unarmed teenager. She explains how the media uses such tactics to make out that the victim is responsible for their own murder and compares it to the coverage of the police murdering Moss’s father.

Esperanza exclaims that it is not quite the same because Moss’s father was clearly innocent, and Moss is outraged at the implication that Javier was not. She clarifies what she means but still does not seem to understand how poor, marginalized communities are treated by the police and media, and Wanda has to explain that “This is our reality” (284). As they continue to discuss the way police officers repeatedly get away with murdering people of color, especially in poor neighborhoods, Moss increasingly resents Esperanza’s privileged naiveté and the way she has to have these things explained to her.

Moss goes to bed and Wanda comes to check he is okay. As she comforts him, he admits that he does not know what they need to do next. Wanda says that they start with the little things, like making sure Javier’s mother has support and enough money for the funeral, and then they organize another demonstration to demand justice for Javier’s murder. She says that she will take care of organizing another meeting.

At first, Moss cannot bring himself to climb the stairs to Eugenia’s apartment, but then he has a sudden delusion that Javier is up there and sprints up the stairs. The reality returns when he sees Eugenia and hugs her. Wanda and Eugenia embrace too and cry together over their losses. Moss gives her Javier’s beanie hat that Moss had picked up when he was killed. He had wanted to keep it but knew she should have it. In turn, Eugenia gives him Javier’s cycling bag, including his extra thick bike chain, and invites him to take something from Javier’s bedroom.

Moss finds a notebook on Javier’s desk and discovers his comic about a superhero named El Gran Misterio who, without his mask, looks just like Javier. In one of the scenes, the superhero removes his costume and climbs into bed with a man who looks like Moss. Moss falls onto the bed in grief and longing. As he and Eugenia comfort each other, she asks him to promise that he will “get the diablo who did this” (297), and Moss gives his word that they will.

In school, Mrs. Torrance reads a statement from Mr. Elliot, after warning the class that it will probably “anger y’all more than anything else” (301). The statement is politic and careful, avoiding taking responsibility and subtly suggesting that the fault lies with Javier for trespassing. The students discuss how their mobile phones are still broken and Mrs. Torrance reveals that she believes that this is not an accident or coincidence. She reveals that over a hundred students were injured, and Moss despairs that Javier has become another statistic, just like his father (303). As the others discuss how the police can get away with such things, Moss feels jaded and desperate, believing that those responsible will get away with it again and that there is nothing any of them can do.

Moss passes the next few days in a daze. He keeps imagining seeing Javier, only to discover it is not him but simply his brain trying to “[fill] in the chasm, the hole that was left behind” (307). His mother goes to visit Eugenia, but Moss cannot handle going there again yet. However, when she organizes another meeting, he agrees to attend.

When Moss arrives, Blessed Way Church is overflowing, with people spreading out into the street unable to get inside. He sees students, community members, and even teachers and staff from the school in attendance. Wanda assures him that he does not have to talk, but he says that he needs to do it. Eugenia speaks first and thanks Moss for loving her son, causing Moss to finally realize that he had been in love with Javier. She continues, speaking of her loss and asking them for any help they can give her, before breaking down into tears.

While Moss begins talking about the need to hold Daley accountable for his actions, a smartly dressed white woman enters and announces herself as Rachel Madsen, the communication manager for the police department. Moss tells her that she is not welcome, but she insists on reading a statement. At the very start of her statement, she emphasizes that Javier was trespassing and Moss throws his chair at the back of the stage in fury.

After Rachel leaves, the crowd continues to offer suggestions. Esperanza’s mother, Rebecca takes the mic, much to Esperanza’s panic. She asks how “those of us who are more privileged can help” (320), and Wanda suggests that they fundraise to cover the costs of the funeral. Rebecca is reluctant to leave the microphone and continues suggesting things she can do to help, including speaking to the principal to whom she has a connection. In the course of doing so, she mentions that she has already spoken to him once.

It soon becomes clear that Rebecca told the principal about the secret protest, naïvely believing that she was helping because she “didn’t want them overreacting and hurting anyone” (321). The crowd is appalled, and Moss is outraged, screaming and swearing at Rebecca, telling her that Javier’s death is her fault before storming out of the church. He sits outside and cries for some time before Bits comes over to comfort him. Tears in their eyes, Bits reveals that they lost their own father in a drive-by shooting, something they have not spoken about before. They even reveal that they had joined a gang shortly after that because they felt like they needed to stand up for themselves.

Moss thanks Bits for sharing and for supporting him as people begin to leave the meeting. He goes to find his mother, who reveals that there is a separate meeting for a select few people about to take place. Moss is surprised to see Mr. Jacobs there, wearing a hoodie and looking awkward. He reveals that he knows a lot more about what happened at the school and even known where Daley is. Moss tells him to start talking (326).

Moss tells Esperanza that he loves her but she cannot attend the meeting in case she says something to her parents and they reveal what is happening to the administration (329). However, she argues that she is also incredibly angry with her parents, and Moss relents. Mr. Jacobs reveals that he made copies of the school’s contract with the Oakland PD as well as blueprints for the metal detector. It soon becomes clear that it is not actually a metal detector but a more elaborate machine that actually scans inside people and that this is what was used to break the students’ cell phones. Mr. Jacobs reveals that this and other items are surplus from military technology acquired from the government.

As Mr. Jacobs reveals how much he and the rest of the administration knew about the police departments intentions and equipment, it is clear that he is pleased with his secret knowledge and is even excited about some of the technology. He remains detached from the whole incident, seemingly feeling no real responsibility for the death and the injuries, and Moss wonders why it took Javier being murdered before he made any effort to intervene. Angrily, he exclaims that Mr. Jacobs should just leave if he is not actually prepared to do anything to help. Like Rebecca, he refuses to take responsibility, and referring to the small effort he has made to redeem himself, even asks “Why can’t you just thank me for this?” (337).

In a fury, Moss tells Mr. Jacobs to leave, and he goes. Afterwards, Moss apologizes to the others for overreacting and says that he should learn to control his anger, but Wanda disagrees, saying that Mr. Jacobs needed to hear it, and the others agree (338). As Moss gets more worked up about what to do next, Wanda warns him to be careful and patient as they will be taking on powerful forces. Shamika agrees, but then lets slip that Wanda has direct experience of the cost of taking on the police (339). Moss demands to know what she means, but Wanda insists that it is not the time to discuss this. Moss is infuriated that he is not being told the whole truth and argues with Wanda and Esperanza, saying he hates Rebecca and that Esperanza sounds just like her. Enraged, he storms from the church and rides off on his bike.

Moss rides furiously and recklessly, not caring how much he puts himself in danger. Eventually, he stops and begins to calm down, realizing that he must accept the harsh realities of the situation and that he is, at least, still alive. However, the realization that even if Daley came out of hiding and admitted his guilt, Javier would still be dead, hits him hard. Worse, he knows finding Daley is unlikely, and that, anyway, “the police would just do the same shit all over again, the cycle would continue, and it would pass to another family once the police killed someone else” (347). Moss has an idea and cycles over to a nearby police building where he takes out Javier’s thick metal bike chain and chains himself to a flagpole outside the building, intending to remain there until Daley is brought to justice.