Motifs

It is in human nature to judge people by their cover. No matter how we advance as a society, every one of us, intentionally or unintentionally, will judge people especially by their first impression. We look how they dress, how they talk, their body language, and unfortunately some will judge others by the color of their skin. 

In the novel “All American Boys”, by Jason Reynolds, one of the main characters ( Rashad ) is brutally beaten and put in the hospital by a cop over a simple misunderstanding and the color of his skin because he’s black. As the news of this gets out, people all over the country debate whether Rashad was innocent or if the cop that beat him was serving in the “ line of duty”.“ We don’t know what happened in that store, so I’m not gonna just sit here and say this kid is innocent. He might not be. I’m a cab driver, and I work nights, and the truth is, if that kid was trying to hail me down, and it was dark outside, I would keep on going” (pg.187). The thinly veiled meaning behind these words proves how racism still plagues the nation despite all its been through to purge itself of this disease.

Even during this more modern time period, adults, such as the parents of nearly all the characters in the novel, still have racism and bigotry imbedded in their conscience, and like a virus, spreads to anyone it comes into contact with. 
It’s clear to see the children in this novel don’t understand why their parents have such intolerance for others, or why others are intolerant of them because their skin is dark. It’s heartbreaking to read as some children begin to develop the same bigotry as their parents, while some families are torn apart disagreeing on what is morally right, and some children like Rashad, come to a grim understanding of the injustice of their world that their ancestors left behind, and their childhood innocence goes up in flames.