All American Boys (30 page)

Rashad Butler.

Present.

ZOOM OUT.

ZOOM OUT, MORE.

A LITTLE MORE.

THE PLAZA. FLOODED WITH BODIES.

BUT NO BLOOD.

NO LIGHTS AND SIRENS.

JUST

CRACKLING

VOICES.

NAMES,

RISING

TO THE SKY.

IN THE CENTER OF IT ALL,

THE BOY WHO REMAINS AND THE BOY BESIDE HIM.

TWO BOYS, IN FOCUS.

TWO BOYS, CLEAR.

A NEW TOMORROW,

AN ARM'S LENGTH AWAY.

From Jason Reynolds:

First and foremost, I'd like to acknowledge all the men, women, boys, and girls who have lost their lives as a result of police brutality. Your names, though too many for these pages, will always live on in our hearts and minds. Your untimely, unjust deaths will hopefully serve as the cornerstone of change for the growing generation. I'd also like to acknowledge the people of all walks of life, in all professional and social sectors, who have been fighting this fight. The protesters and community activists, the artists, the political allies, the teachers and librarians, the everyday folks who can't quiet the internal screams—we all have a necessary part to play. ALL OF US.

I'd also like to extend a separate but very important salute to the women of every civil rights movement, whether victim or leader, who always seem to get overlooked. You have always been on the front lines. You have always been the backbone. So this is to say, I SEE YOU. WE SEE YOU. THANK YOU.

Obviously, I have to acknowledge Brendan Kiely for co-writing this book with me. My respect for you is immense. It's a true honor to call you a friend. Special thanks to Alicia Lockard and Christopher Smith for research help. I definitely appreciate you both. And as always, a huge thank you to Elena Giovinazzo, my agent, for always believing in me, and to Caitlyn Dlouhy and Justin P. Chanda, my editor and publisher, for once again providing me with a megaphone.

Last but not least, I want to thank my mother and father, and their mothers and fathers, and their mothers and fathers, for giving me an impenetrable sense of cultural pride, an unwavering sense of responsibility, and a childlike sense of hope. I do believe we can do better, be better. But we can't
hide behind fear. We can't tuck truth between the cushions of comfort. We have to deal with it, really confront it, so that our children can live with a lot less weight. We owe it to them.

From Brendan Kiely:

It is one thing to write a novel, but it is another thing to live the life, and I firstly want to acknowledge the families and individuals affected by police brutality. It is my hope that this novel will be a productive voice in the vital public conversation about the many injustices inflicted upon those lived realities. I believe that we need to face honestly the legacy and effects of racism in our country, and that white people like myself—whose privilege is the result of systemic racism—have a particular responsibility to help dismantle it. We all live here. There are no bystanders. We all have a role.

There are many people who have been doing the essential work to foster the conversation about the effects of systemic racism and to deconstruct that system. I'd like to thank in particular the educators and organizers who I've worked with directly and who have inspired me, including the folks involved with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, the Carle Institute, the White Privilege Conference, the Anti-Racist Alliance of Educators, my colleagues at the Calhoun School, and other independent schools and public schools; and teachers, librarians, and friends in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts—I love you and thank you and honor the change that you make in the world every day.

To my family—Maryanne Kiely, Tom Kiely, Niall Kiely, Trish Kiely, Heide Lange, John Chaffee, Joshua Chaffee—I love you all and I'm so deeply grateful for your love, encouragement,
and support. Thank you all. And thank you especially Jessie Chaffee, my partner in all things in life, who teaches me about the expansiveness of the word love—this and everything for you.

Thank you Rob Weisbach, super-agent and super-friend, for your enthusiasm, intelligence, and your belief in me and my work. I hold our partnership close to my heart.

In the making of this book, I am extremely fortunate to work with the amazing folks at Simon & Schuster, in particular Caitlyn Dlouhy, an editor who works with such speed, intelligence, and care, I have to wonder if she didn't anticipate the whole story before it was written. Thank you for making this book more the book it wanted and needed to be.

Thanks to Katy Hershberger, the tireless publicist who seems to be three people in one, and to whom I am especially grateful because she introduced me to Jason when she first put us on tour together last year. And thanks also to Ruta Rimas and Justin Chanda, for believing in my work from the beginning and welcoming me into the S&S family—here's to many more years of partnership.

And most importantly, thank you, Jason. The process of making this book was inspiring and challenging, and I'm so deeply grateful to have worked through it together with you. Thank you for your friendship, because as we remind ourselves, it is always the friendship that matters most. Thank you for trusting me, working with me, and believing that with both rage and love we could write this book.

ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS • An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 •
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• This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. • Text copyright © 2015 by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds • Jacket photograph copyright © 2015 by Jessica Koscielniak; back cover photograph copyright © 2015 Thinkstock • Author photograph of Jason Reynolds by Kia Chenelle • Author photograph of Brendan Kiely by Gary Jason Cohen • All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. •
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CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4814-6333-1 • ISBN 978-1-4814-6335-5 (eBook)