McAndrew, Page 1

Mia McAndrew

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp pd 3

Dec 17, 2021

Taking a Stand Against Racism

If you have ever witnessed racism and not known what to do you, along with one of the

characters in the book, All American Boys are not alone. One of the main characters, Quinn saw

something that looked questionable, and it unsettled him. In the book All American Boys, Jason

Reynolds and Brendan Kiely show the reader a problem in society today, and how to stand up

against it.

This incident shows us a problem in society today in the book All American Boys. To

begin, the first example is on page 62. Reynolds and Kiely show the reader the initial problem

starter; this was when Quinn saw Rashad get dragged out of the mini mart by a cop. Not just any

cop either, a family friend, and father figure to Quinn. Quinn saw that Rashad wasn’t resisting,

this confused him to as why Paul was still hitting him. He ran away before Paul, or anyone saw

him. This example shows that Quinn was unsettled by this happening. Even though Quinn did

not know the backstory he did know that Rashad was not resisting, yet still getting beat. This

also caused Quinn to see a different side of Paul he did not like. This reveals a problem in society

today.
 McAndrew, Page 1

Here, it shows a problem in society today. Then the second example is on page 82.

Reynolds and Kiely are raising the readers’ suspicion. This is when Quinn, Willy (his little

brother), and Jill were walking back home. Quinn and Jill each seemed distracted and used Willy

to start conversations. Once they had got to Jill’s house, she mentioned the party Paul was

throwing. She had thought the sudden party was weird and consequently, Quinn did too. They

thought this party was weird because why throw a party right after Paul beat the innocent kid up.

Especially because he was getting so much attention on media about the whole situation. This

example relates to the previously stated topic because this is the first step of standing up against

racism, realization. They were now on the same page that what had happened was weird, along

with the party being thrown right after it. This indicates a problem in society today.

This presents an issue we deal with today. Another example is on page 120. Reynolds

and Kiely reveal a tense moment. This is when Quinn, Guzzo, Dwyer, and Paul were playing

basketball. Paul was being rough with Quinn, and Quinn had gotten sick of it. Dwyer and Guzzo

were complaining when Quinn started walking away, but Paul’s voice rose over saying he

wanted to help. Quinn tossed the ball back to them despite Paul’s encouraging words to stay.

This shows the reader that although all throughout Quinn’s life he had looked up to Paul, what

Paul had done recently pushed Quinn away. This reveals to us that people with good morals will

not put up with racism whether it is blood or not. Previously mentioned, this is a problem we

face in society today.

Here the author shows a problem in society today and how to stand up against it. Then

there are multiple examples on pages 253, 254, 255, 257, 260, 261. Reynolds and Kiely show

Quinn standing up for what he believes in. This is when Quinn wore a shirt to school that said,

“I’m Marching” in the front and on the back wrote, “Are you?” There were plenty of people who
 McAndrew, Page 1

supported him and plenty who did not. For example, Dwyer had saw him in school and was mad

he was wearing the shirt because their coach had told them to stay out of it. But Dwyer also

seemed to not care about the protest, whether or not he was allowed to go. Then, when Quinn

had been at basketball practice, him and Guzzo were up against each other scrimmaging. Guzzo

and Quin were going towards the ball and Guzzo elbowed Quinn in the face. Guzzo claimed this

was an accident, but Quinn knew he had been waiting for that all day. At this point practice had

ended and Quinn was trying to leave as quickly as possible. Once he got outside, he saw Guzzo,

he tried saying something to him but got cut off by Guzzo charging him. Quinn blocked the first

hit, but Guzzo got him in the stomach and on the cheek. These examples relate to the topic

because there are going to be people who start acting differently suddenly. This is a part of

standing up against racism, not everyone is going to be friendly about it. As stated, this is a

problem in society today and how to stand up against it.

This is a problem in society today and how to stand up against it. Lastly, this example is

on pages 292-end of book. Reynolds and Kiely end the book off with Quinn attending a protest.

Before he had arrived, he shared a special quote. On page 292, the author wrote, “Because

racism was alive and real as shi*. It was everywhere and all mixed up in everything, and the only

people who said it wasn’t, and the only people who said, ‘Don’t talk about it’ were white. Well,

stop lying. That’s what I wanted to tell those people. Stop lying. Stop denying. That’s why I was

marching. Nothing was going to change unless we did something about it. We! White people!”

Then Quinn and Jill went to the protest. It made Quinn feel good he was there doing a good

deed, standing up for people of other ethnicities. This example shows that Quinn did stand up

against racism. The quote shows that Quinn was sick of white people always shrugging off

racism like it doesn’t exist. He then encourages white people to help these other ethnicities
 McAndrew, Page 1

because the ability to spread the word. This shows that Quinn does care about this topic, he is

passionate about it. As previously stated, this is a problem in society today and how to stand up

against it.

The authors wrote, “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...” This quote shows us how Quinn feels about standing up to racism. He is sick of

people pretending it isn’t there and turning a blind eye. He wants people to confront it instead of

being silent.

In conclusion, the book All American Boys, by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds shows

the reader a problem in society today, and how to stand up against it. Quinn witnessed a racist

event and had not known what to do at first. This had bothered Quinn, it made him utterly

unsettled. As you can see, at the beginning of the story Quinn was bewildered as to what to do.

Throughout the story Quinn realized he didn’t want to sit quiet anymore, because that makes you

no better. Finally, Quinn started actively standing up against racism no matter if he’d lose friends

or not.
 McAndrew, Page 1

Work Cited

Reynolds, Jason and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York; Atheneum, 2015. Print.