In the novel Dear Martin by Nic Stone, we learn about 16-year old Justyce McAllister, a black teen attending Braselton Prep Academy. His recent run in with the police left him on the ground in handcuffs, while his drunk ex- Melo - was stumbling around on the sidewalk next to him. Justyce was trying to help her, but being black in a nice neighborhood, he was immediately profiled by the police and followed to where he met up with Melo. Assuming he was trying to hurt her, Officer Castillo pointed his gun at Justyce and cuffed him. Justyce was let go after calling his best friend's parents, both lawyers, who ultimately got Castillo to free Justyce. Back in his dorm, Justyce is considering what happened and what could've happened. He gets the idea to start writing letters to Dr Martin Luther King Jr., telling him about his experience, and how he wants to try to help. Justyce develops a new goal- to be more like Martin. Justyce wants to respond to racism without violence, call …show more content…
I don't wanna walk around all pissed off and looking for problems, but I know I can't continue to pretend nothings wrong. Yeah. There are no more ‘colored’ water fountains, and it's supposed to be illegal to discriminate, but if I can be forced to sit on the ground in too-tight cuffs when I've done nothing wrong it's clear there's an issue. That things aren't as equal as folks say they are” (13). Even though Justyce was dressed in nice clothing and not causing a disturbance, a cop followed him, saw him helping Melo, and assumed he was dangerous or taking advantage of Melo. Just because he was black and walking in a nice neighborhood. This event is what inspired Justyce to start writing to Martin, and shows how Justyces bad experience with the police made him realize the severity of discrimination and that racism is still very prevalent in the world