This Is My America

Tracy goes to Tasha’s house to see what she has missed at school. She finds Tasha fighting with her father, who she calls Daddy Greg. Tasha says that Daddy Greg can’t tell her what to do because he has been absent for so much of her life. Tracy consoles Tasha and the two discuss the reactions at school to Angela’s death. As Tracy expected, the school is divided “Black and white” (109) in terms of who is supporting Jamal and who believes he is guilty. Tasha says that there are rumors in school that Jamal was talking to Angela on the morning of the murder, and wonders if there might be more witnesses to Angela’s murder. Tracy decides not to tell Tasha that Angela and Jamal were seeing each other. Tracy worries that Jamal and Angela were out there because of its desolate location, but that it is not a spot Black or Latinx teenagers go to hang out.

Suspecting that Quincy knows something, Tracy goes to the Ridges’s house. She does not see his Impala in the driveway, but before she can leave Quincy’s mother and brother Malcom come to the door. Tracy explains that the once-close relationship between the Beaumonts and the Ridges strained after Jackson’s murder and Daddy’s conviction. Mrs. Ridges tells Tracy that Quincy is not home, and that while she is sorry to hear about Jamal, she does not want any more trouble for her family. Tracy apologizes and Mrs. Ridges tells her that she still loves her family but can’t “lose one of my boys. They all I got” (114). Mrs. Ridges asks Tracy how her father is and tells her that she is praying for her family, especially to bring Daddy and Jamal home. She tells Malcolm to get in the car and before they leave, Malcolm points to Quincy’s Impala parked in the garage.

Tracy catches Quincey inside, watching TV and asks what he knows about Jamal. Quincy admits that Jamal hid out at his house the day before, but he left after Mrs. Ridges saw him in Quincy’s room. Tracy reminds Quincy that he promised he would always look out for her, and remembers a day from their childhood when Quincy, still recovering from the shooting, sat with Tracy, and comforted her as she processed the trauma of her father’s trial. Tracy pushes Quincy to give her more information. Quincy says that Jamal and Angela had a plan to meet up the night of her murder, but that Angela did not show. Disappointed, Jamal went to Quincy’s house, but left as soon as he received a text from Angela. He says that the next time Jamal came over, after escaping from his house when the police arrived, that he was shaken up from finding Angela dead.

Quincy promises Tracy that he did not say anything when the cops interviewed him and makes her promise that she will be careful in her investigation. In a moment of romantic tension, Quincy almost kisses Tracy, but instead kisses her on the cheek. He asks Tracy if they would be closer than her and Dean if Quincy had not been shot. Tracy feels conflicted in her response, knowing that the events of their past radically changed the course of their relationship, and thanks Quincy for his help.

Mama, Corinne, and Tracy arrive at visiting hours to see Daddy, but the presiding correctional officer delays them. When they are finally admitted, the officer threatens Tracy: “Disruptions get visitation revoked. Remember that next time you wanna show off on TV” (126). Tracy watches Mama and Daddy discuss from across the room and mourns the fact that this is the only time she gets to see them together. Corinne waits with Tracy and says she hopes Jamal “never comes back” (128) because then he will be taken away like Daddy.

Tracy updates Daddy on the situation with Jamal. Daddy tells her to hire a lawyer and to find Jamal as soon as possible because the longer he waits the worse the outcome will be for him in the eyes of the law. He asks Tracy to stop worrying about his case and to focus her energy on helping Jamal, who still has a chance unlike him.

Tracy recalls how difficult it was to go back to school after her father’s trial and how Mama told her to channel the bravery of Ruby Bridges attending a desegregated school. In the present, Mama tells Tracy that she needs to attend school to show others that their family are still “real people” (137) and not fodder for gossip and speculation. Tracy tries to avoid attention when she arrives at school but sees news media parked outside of the school. Justin Draper, one of Chris Brighton’s friends and a tormenter of Tracy’s from childhood, points her out to the reporters. Tracy freezes in fear until Quincy intervenes.

Quincy leads Tracy to the school’s back entrance. When they stop, Tracy asks Quincy if he has heard from Jamal. He says no, but then seeing Tracy’s anguish, reaches into his backpack and hands her a small burner phone. He tells her that Jamal turns the phone on once a day at 10 a.m., will not answer a call, and that she must delete any text messages passed between them.

Inside school, Tracy finds Tasha waiting for her. She tells Tracy that there is going to be an assembly during first and second periods to memorialize Angela. Tracy knows there is no way she can attend and plans to leave. Tracy feels the scrutinizing stares of her classmates as she makes her way down the hall and goes to the newspaper room, hoping to escape. Upon entering the room, Tracy feels the weight of Angela’s loss.

Tracy combs through the next issue’s layout and is worried to see that her column “Tracy’s Corner” is missing. The newspaper advisor, Mr. Kaine, enters the room and informs Tracy that she has lost the editor vote and did not earn enough votes to be on the executive board, which means she will have to pitch her “Tracy’s Corner” column again next year. Mr. Kaine leaves, and Tracy sits and begins to cry.

Angela’s best friend, Mandy Peters, interrupts Tracy. She says she is there to pick up Angela’s things from the newsroom and begins packing up the rest of Angela’s belongings. Mandy leaves quickly, and a paper she threw in the trash catches Tracy’s eye. A page from Angela’s calendar reads “Tuesday: PIKE—underground rally” (147) and a note about her meeting with Tracy. Tracy decides to go to the Pike to investigate why Angela went there.

In a letter to Mr. Jones, Tracy explains that she is taking matters into her own hands by searching for her brother, and Angela’s killer. She says she is starting her own investigation to prove her brother’s innocence. Tracy ends the note by saying that she will no longer write to Innocence X, but that she harbors no ill will towards them. She hopes they are successful in their future cases and bring back someone else’s father if they were not able to bring back her own. 

Tracy leaves school and heads towards the Pike. When she arrives, she finds the scene still covered in yellow crime-scene tape, but otherwise deserted. Tracy surveys the scene with trepidation, spotting the dark stain where Angela was found on the dock, and an undiscovered footpath that has more blood on it, but it appears that police missed this detail. She also finds marks along the side of the building that suggest Angela was dragged. Tracy pieces together the information she has about the events leading up to Angela’s murder and determines that the crime started by the South Seafood Packing building, then Angela was dragged to the dock, and died there.

Tracy texts Jamal’s burner phone and asks what happened between him and Angela at the Pike. He responds saying that he did murder Angela, and that he is going to throw the phone away. Tracy tells Jamal that she is at the Pike, and he instructs her to get out of there because it is dangerous. Tracy enters the warehouse to look for evidence. She texts Beverly, asking if the crime scene has been cleared. As she does so, she hears voices in the distance.

As the voices draw nearer, Tracy looks for a place to hide in the warehouse. She pushes through a tight space between the warehouse conveyor belt and the wall. Trapped in the small space, she hears two men enter the warehouse. They are looking for something, but do not find it, and quickly leave. While they talk, Tracy spies Angela’s cell phone on the ground near her hiding spot.

She takes the phone, waits 10 minutes until she believes the coast is clear, and then exits the building. Tracy takes off running but stops when a voice calls out “Police! Stop! Or I’ll shoot” (159). The white officer, Officer Clyde, comes over to her and Beverly appears, stating Tracy is with her. Tracy explains that she is at the Pike to see the scene for herself and to prove her brother’s innocence. Officer Clyde explains that they are looking for an “unaccounted piece of evidence” (161), but Tracy does not say anything about the phone she found. She does point out the blood spots on the path she found, and the cops let her go.

Tracy cracks the phone’s passcode using Angela’s birthday. Checking the call log, Tracy sees that the last two dialed numbers are 911 and Jamal’s, and several missed calls from Jamal. The two most recent answered calls are from Chris at around 10 p.m. Tuesday, the night of her murder. She combs through a text thread between Angela and Jamal.

Their conversation is purposefully vague but alludes to Angela trying to get information from Chris about something happening at the Pike. Jamal asks her to stop dating Chris, and Angela responds that she needs to get information from him first before breaking off their relationship. Angela asks Jamal to keep a phone memory card safe for her because she needs to “look through more photos” (167). Jamal says he will keep the memory card safe in the production room at Herron Media. The messages stop on the day of Angela’s murder.

Tracy also views a video of Jamal and Angela practicing interview questions for The Susan Touric show. On film, Jamal asks Angela if she is sure that Susan Touric will ask about his dad, and that while Tracy wants him to say something, he knows it will upset Mama. Tracy realizes that Jamal must know who killed Angela, but that he cannot tell police because they might not believe him. She decides to hold onto the phone because police may ignore the evidence if she turns it in. She feels that Chris might be involved, but that his connections to law enforcement will protect him. Tracy texts Jamal about the memory card, hoping that it contains evidence that will prove his innocence.

To gather information, Tracy decides to speak to Angela’s best friend, Mandy, as well as Natalie, the new editor of the paper. Even though they claim to know nothing, Tracy also decides to speak to two of Jamal’s friends from the track team, Cuddy and Demarcus. On the way to the track, Tracy runs into Quincy. Tracy tells him about everything she found on Angela’s phone, and Quincy admits that Jamal was looking into “some stuff” (173) but that he will not say what it was. He also warns her to stay away from Chris. Tracy also receives another text from Jamal, who says that the SD card is in a hidden compartment in the production room.

Tracy is surprised to find the newspaper classroom locked. When Natalie begrudgingly opens the door, she reveals that the staff has been on high alert since someone trashed the room after Angela’s memorial. Natalie accuses Tracy of damaging the classroom but says that no one has approached Tracy about it because Mandy said she locked up behind Tracy. Tracy leaves confused as to why Mandy would cover for her.

Tracy is pleased to see eight people in attendance at her Know Your Rights Workshop including Quincy and his brother, Malcolm. At this session, he is alert and focused. Tracy asks everyone why they are attending the workshop and most respond that they want to better understand their rights when interacting with law enforcement. Quincy says to Tracy that he came for her, which elicits snickers from the crowd.

Tracy begins the workshop by going over how to remain safe during a stop scenario. She instructs them in how to control their body language and movements to keep the police officer calm. She states multiple times “safety is your number one priority” (187). She discusses de-escalation tactics, as well as what to do if arrested. When she asks them all to have two numbers memorized should they find themselves in a holding cell, Quincy states that he has Tracy’s number memorized. As Tracy sends the men into pairs to practice a scenario, Quincy offers to help her break into Herron Media. He tells her that Jamal texted him about her plan, and that he was able to take a pair of keys to get into the building. The two agree to meet outside the building at 9 p.m.

As the session concludes, a new arrival greets Tracy: a young Black man who introduces himself as Steve Jones from Innocence X.

Tracy immediately disregards the man, who clarifies that he is Stephen Jones’s son, who founded the Innocence X project. Steve tells Tracy that he met with Daddy, who said she should be the first to know about Innocence X taking his case. Tracy is astonished to learn that the organization is finally taking an interest and immediately calls her mother, who wails on the phone at the news. Mama asks about Jamal, and Steve advises that they encourage Jamal to return home so that he has a better chance of winning the case against him. Steve warns that the road to freedom for Daddy could be a long process, but Tracy remains encouraged, feeling her “ancestors’ strength pouring into [her], fully armored so [she] can fight to prove their innocence” (197).