Brutality In 'All American Boys'

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. -Desmond Tutu. In the novel All American Boys by Brendon Kiely and Jason Reynolds the main topic is racism and police brutality. Rashad Butler gets beat up by Quinn Jones's older brother figure, Paul Galluzo, while Quinn watches. This causes him to go on a journey of realizing how corrupt the police force is and relearning to think on his own.

Throughout the story, Quinn's positive development can be seen when he realizes how corrupt and racist both the police force and society are. First, as the book develops he comes to a realization that staying silent about racism is unacceptable. Rather than keeping his opinions to himself and deciding everyone else

Initially, when Quinn has his first conversation with English he has the opinion of “Keep my head down and focus on the team” (178). He follows this by saying it feels like having this mentality cheats him out of something. His character starts developing into a more empathetic and understanding person. Later he says, “You aren’t the victim, neither is your brother” (223). Quinn knows that saying this would cause Guzzo to snap at him, but he wants to try and get Guzzo to understand that Paul is not a hero for his actions. These quotations are noteworthy as they are milestones in Quinn’s development, as they show that he initially thinks staying silent is the best way to go, but later he tries to make Guzzo understand that neither of them are victims. He realizes that Rashad faces racism and that even if Paul is a police officer, this does not automatically make him a good person, it shows the growth and empathy that he gains. Second, Quinn goes to the protest against his mother’s wishes. When Quinn brings up going to the protest to his mother, she says: “‘What is all this? You’re not marching! [...] Honey, I know you think you are doing the right thing, but you aren’t’” (264).

He has hurt someone because of something uncontrollable, exploiting his role as a police officer. First, he realizes that Paul is not doing his job, but is doing something out of malice. He goes from seeing Paul as an older brother figure to holding him accountable and realizing the wrong of his actions. Quinn initially sees Paul as a figure of comfort after his father’s death, but once he sees what Paul has done he realizes that he has “‘to make a statement” [...] The Rashad Butler incident, I saw what happened, and I’d like to make a statement” (286). This is a true test of courage, it is necessary for him to report Paul, for the safety of others. This quote is one of the final developments of Quinn’s character. He is scared of reporting Paul, because of the connections that their families have. This proves my point as this is direct proof of Quinn holding Paul accountable. Further, Quinn understands that Paul is not a hero for becoming a police officer, to be a hero you need to have the heart of one. Paul once says to Quinn that “I realize, your father was a hero. I want to be somebody like that. I want to be somebody that makes a difference too” (266). Quinn later follows this with “Paul’d gotten it all wrong. Becoming a cop would not make him a hero-but what kind of cop he became could have.”(266). After his conversation with his mother, he realizes