Response (How it Went Down)

How It Went Down Response

            How It Went Down is a novel written by Kekla Magoon that addresses the issues of racism and violence in the United States. A teenage African-American boy, Tariq Johnson, was shot and killed by a White man. This causes a disturbance in the community; everyone tries to understand what actually happened. People contract one another so it is hard to say what truthfully occurred. The book uncovers fictional first-hand experiences that help us better understand mistreatment minorities face in the United States.

            The people in the community take the incident harshly not only because Tariq was killed, but because he was killed by a White man. The incident mimics similar issues the United States has been facing continuously throughout history.  Within the past five years alone, Caucasian men were involved in the murder of three young black males: Trayvon Martin, Kendric McDade, and Michael Brown. Like Tariq Johnson, these young men were under the age of 20.  These men were also unarmed. Just like Tariq Johnson.

            I wonder if all these young men were shot based off of racism, prejudice, or both. It is interesting to see that even though Jack Franklin was not involved in the situation he took it upon himself to shoot Tariq. I wonder why Franklin felt he needed to be the hero. Because of prejudice, I feel Franklin automatically assumed Johnson was stealing based off Johnson’s completion. Because of this I question, “Do people become alarmed when they see young black males?” Due to pre-conceived notion Franklin took action and assumed a young African-American male running away was up to no good. Johnson could have been running from the store because he saw an ex-girlfriend. There are countless possibilities but prejudice took control of Franklin—he assumed a black male was an immediate threat because he was running. Johnson, with a Snickers bar, was not a deadly threat. Unless someone knew that candy bar would imminent cause diabetes.

          Prejudice is a form of racism. But is idea that young black males are criminals justifiable? Is this why unarmed victims like Treyvon Martin were shot and killed? Why did Franklin get involved? Questions like this make me wonder why racism like this continues to this day.