This Is My America

On the day of Jamal’s interview, despite strict instructions from Mama, Tracy plans to bring up their father’s case to draw attention to it. While waiting backstage, Tracy notes that one of her classmates, Angela Herron, is there working as a production assistant. Angela is the daughter of Jamal’s boss at Herron Media, and the school newspaper editor. Angela’s boyfriend, Chris Brighton, shows up to the studio unexpectedly. Tracy is annoyed with them both, describing Chris especially as “white privilege at its finest” (9).

Their father’s incarceration looms large over the interview, especially when Susan Touric asks Jamal whether track stars run in their family. Tracy recalls that Daddy was also a track star back in New Orleans, where the Beaumont family lived before Hurricanes Katrina and Veronica forced them to move to Texas. Jamal does not bring up Daddy directly when answering Touric’s questions and explains that he is staying in Texas for school to be close to his family. This prompts Touric to bring out Mama, Tracy, and their younger sister Corinne and Touric asks Corinne and Tracy questions about themselves.

The interview continues to go smoothly, focusing on Jamal and his success, until Tracy exclaims that she can’t even think about college yet because she is so focused on “helping my father’s appeal” (14). Tracy explains the history of their father’s case, that they do not have the financial means to prove his innocence and indicts the criminal justice system for its inequitable treatment of people of color and people of lower economic status. She also lies, stating that there are “other suspects recently identified” (18) in the case. As the interview wraps up, Tracy knows that her family is angry with her.

After the disastrous interview, Tracy texts her friend Tasha who will give her a ride to Polunsky Prison. Tracy hopes to speak to Daddy first so that she can smooth things over before the rest of the family sees him on Monday. Tracy and Tasha bond, in part, because both their fathers have been incarcerated. Tasha has a hard time trusting her father because when he was first released, he had a difficult time adjusting and broke the parameters of his parole. Tracy’s anxiety increases as they approach the prison, knowing that Daddy has probably heard about what she did and that she lied in the interview about there being new suspects in his case.

Inside the prison, Tracy and Daddy sit across from one another and he gently reprimands her about the interview while also expressing pride that she is a fighter. Of all the family members, Tracy connects with Daddy the most about his case.

Tracy explains how her father ended up in prison on death row. The white community blamed Daddy and his friend, Jackson Ridges, for the murders of Cathy and Mark Davidson after a failed business dealing. When the police came to arrest Jackson, they shot and killed Jackson and injured his young son, Quincy. Before the trial, Daddy refused a plea deal because he would not “admit to something he didn’t do” (32). Daddy believed that God would protect him and so he pleaded innocent, taking away the option of life without parole.

Daddy reminds Tracy that he needs his family to “stay close, not pull apart” (33). Tracy is distracted thinking about the evidence, or lack thereof, that caused her father to end up on death row. Investigators never found the gun that killed the Davidsons, and Daddy never owned a gun. Additionally, Daddy and Mr. Ridges’s fingerprints were not in the room where police found the Davidsons’ bodies. The prosecution’s case hinged on the fact that Daddy was about to do business with Mr. Davidson, and that they were murdered after the deal fell through. Tracy feels helpless after her visit with Daddy, but remembers that she still has control over “my voice and my mind” (36) and finishes writing another letter to Innocence X.

In another letter to Stephen Jones, Esq., Tracy congratulates Innocence X on a recent case they won in California. She asks whether they are now ready to take on her father’s case. Tracy reflects on how Tasha treats her father since he is out of prison. She states that she believes it’s “harder to adjust to life when you’re innocent. Because you think you’re losing your mind trying to prove the truth” (37) as opposed to those who are guilty and can accept what they have done and learn from it. She closes by mentioning the Susan Touric interview and asks Innocence X to review her father James Beaumont’s application.

Jamal still is not speaking to Tracy, so Tracy rides with Mama to Galveston to get a ride to school with her best friend, Dean Evans. Tracy notes the “glaring” (40) difference between the “poor and rural” (40) town where they live, Crowning Heights, and Galveston Bay, where Mama works at the Evans’ antique store. Daddy and Mark Davidson had plans to develop The Crowning Heights, but after the trial, all plans for development stopped.

Tracy and Mama arrive at the antique store. Dean and Tracy have been friends since police shot Jackson and Quincy Ridges. While Quincy recovered in the hospital, Dean “took his place” (44) as a friend who looked out for her. Tracy feels conflicted regarding their relationship because of their different races and because of how coldly Mrs. Evans acts around her. She and Dean have always “played on the lines of friendship and relationship” (45) but Tracy feels they could never actually be together because of race.

Dean tries to excuse his mother’s cold behavior by saying she does not mean anything by it, which Tracy knows is untrue. Tracy feels hurt when Dean questions why she interrupted Jamal’s interview, because Dean has always been supportive of Tracy’s mission to save her father.

At school, Dean and Tracy greet Tasha at their lockers. Tasha teases Tracy about Dean, and then suggests that Tracy will not date Dean because she has feelings for her old friend, Quincy. Tasha also divulges that another newspaper columnist, Natalie Haynes, wants to challenge Tracy as editor of the paper next year. Tracy leaves Tasha to go find Angela, who will have influence over the staff vote for the next editor.

In the newspaper room, Tracy sees Angela and Chris arguing. Before leaving, Chris hugs and kisses Angela, who responds as if she does not want him touching her. Angela thinks Tracy wants to discuss Jamal’s interview and accuses her of not working well with other newspaper staff. Angela admires Tracy and takes her writing seriously, especially when it comes to Tracy’s social-justice column “Tracy’s Corner,” but reiterates that she is not a team player and therefore might not be suited for the editor role. When Tracy protests, Angela challenges Tracy to prove it by working on a secret exposé with her. Tracy agrees to meet Angela at 8 a.m. the next day, and as she leaves, Angela asks Tracy to tell no one (including Jamal) that they spoke.

Tracy walks to Jamal’s job at Herron Media after school, avoiding eye contact with people. Apart from the racism that Tracy experiences in everyday life as a Black woman (a woman clutching her purse closer as Tracy walks by, for example), she can’t shake the feeling that her family doesn’t belong in the community ever since Daddy’s conviction.

As Tracy opens Jamal’s office door, she interrupts an embrace between Jamal and Angela. Angela leaves, telling Jamal to call her when he is done with work. Tracy eyes her suspiciously, remembering that Angela told her not to tell Jamal about the exposé. Tracy warns Jamal to be careful with Angela, who has a boyfriend and whose father is Jamal’s employer, but Jamal brushes off her concerns. Tracy asks Jamal to resolve their conflict from the interview. Jamal says he will be working late and asks Tracy to cover for him.

That night, the sound of someone shuffling in the hallway jolts Tracy awake. Tracy walks upstairs to the bathroom and finds Jamal wringing his hands over the sink. Tracy sees red water draining out of the basin and Jamal pushes past her. Jamal seems scared and Tracy notices a long scratch on his neck.

Tracy hears multiple cars speeding down their road, and then a knock at the door. This reminds her of the night police arrested Daddy. The police knock on the door demanding entry, and Tracy tries to convince Mama to keep the door shut unless they have a warrant. Mama ignores her and opens the door to Sheriff John Brighton, who states that they have come to take in Jamal.

Tracy asks to see the warrant to give Jamal time to escape. As she reviews the warrant, she hears Jamal’s bedroom window open. Sheriff Brighton demands that Mama “get your boy” (70) and Tracy flinches at the coded racial slur. Mama opens the door after officers move to each entrance of the house, and they immediately search the house as Tracy prays that Jamal had time to escape.

Tracy is relieved to see Officer Beverly Ridges, Quincy’s older sister, enter the home. Sheriff Brighton orders an officer to stay at the Beaumont’s house in case Jamal comes home, and Beverly offers. Beverly explains that police found Angela Herron’s body at the Pike, an abandoned area in town known for its underage parties. Beverly reveals that before her death, Angela called 911 and the operator heard her call out Jamal’s name.

Panicked, Tracy calls Jamal’s number to no response. She then calls Quincy, assuming that Jamal’s best friend has heard from him. Quincy denies knowing anything, but when Tracy presses him, he tells her that he will tell Jamal she called. Tracy asks Beverly how Angela died, and she says that it appears to have been blunt force trauma to the head. Tracy argues that nothing so far proves Jamal was involved or even there, but Beverly reveals that not only was Jamal’s jacket found on Angela’s body, but that Jamal was seen fleeing the scene. Tracy runs out the back door down the path that she knows Jamal would have taken when he jumped out his window. She stops on the path and yells for Jamal until Beverly calls her back to the house. Tracy breaks down weeping and prepares herself for the fight to prove Jamal’s innocence.

In another letter to Stephen Jones, Esq. Tracy explains that Jamal is on the run; The Galveston Country police department blames Jamal because of who his father is. She states that she needs the help of Innocence X more than ever, and that they are willing to give “every last drop of money we have—which is almost nothing, so maybe our house” (81) to help defend Jamal. She states once again that Innocence X is their only hope.

On television the next morning, Susan Touric breaks a news story about Angela’s murder. A photo of Jamal is on-screen with the word “suspect” written underneath. The photo casts Jamal in a negative light with his middle finger raised to the camera and a red cup in his hand. Tracy understands that the lacks important context. Making matters worse, Susan Touric emphasizes that Jamal is the son of “convicted killer” (89) James Beaumont. Remembering the racial bias that contributed to Daddy’s conviction, Tracy resolves to prevent the same thing from happening to Jamal.

On the drive to the police station, Tracy recalls the events leading up to Mark and Cathy Davidson’s murders. When they moved from New Orleans to Texas, Daddy began working as a contractor with Jackson Ridges. Mark Davidson later hired Daddy and trusted him so much that he offered to help expand his business to land development. Davidson left Jackson Ridges out of this deal due to bias about which part of town Jackson was from, and so Daddy pulled out unless Jackson could be included. This led to a disagreement between Daddy and Mark Davidson, but Tracy explains that there was “no bad blood” (93) between them.

At the police station, Tracy sees that Dean is there to support her. Mama instructs Tracy to stay outside with Dean, but gives in, knowing that Tracy has extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system. While waiting to speak with Sheriff Brighton, Tracy sees him comforting his son, Chris. A man wearing a USA hat and dress clothes escorts Chris out. Chris recognizes Tracy and verbally accosts her in the hallway before the man escorts him out.

Tracy’s mind reels with theories about what could have happened to Angela and how Chris might be involved. She worries knowing that it will be Chris’s word against Jamal’s. Sheriff Brighton tells Mama that Jamal is being charged with murder, and that he should come in sooner rather than later if he wants the District Attorney to pursue a life sentence over the death sentence. Outside the station, Tracy receives a text from Jamal. He refuses to tell her where he is, tells her not to worry about him, and to take care of Mama and Corinne. Tracy asks him who killed Angela, but he does not respond again. Tracy decides to conduct her own investigation to save her brother’s life.