Many authors assert their stance on a current issue through their fiction. Some, like Charlotte Brontë in her novel Jane Eyre, argue for female empowerment; some, like F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel The Great Gatsby, decry the American Dream; and some, like Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely in their novel All American Boys, condemn police brutality. The novel All American Boys alternates narration between a black student beaten by police, Rashad Butler, and a white bystander, Quinn Collins in order to convey the devastating effects of police violence and the courage required to speak out against it.
The novel’s central conflict, though fictional, is all too familiar to anyone cognizant of America’s current political