•  
  •  
 

BYU Studies Quarterly

BYU Studies Quarterly

Authors

Derek R. Riddle

Keywords

religious freedom, Latter-day, principles

Abstract

A couple of years ago, a colleague recommended I read a young adult novel titled How It Went Down authored by Kekla Magoon. This fictional novel tells the tragic story of Tariq Johnson, a sixteen-year-old fatally shot by a police officer. The story, written from a multicharacter perspective, creates an intentional effect through which the reader may find it challenging to discover the truth about the book’s pivotal event because of the varied perspectives and accounts of its many characters. As a former secondary-school English teacher who taught in settings where conversations regarding police brutality and racial profiling were prevalent, I was intrigued by the potential this novel could have in an English classroom. Therefore, I began to preview the book. However, after reading in the first few pages the accounts of two of the characters, Noodle and Samuel, I put the book down and struggled to pick it back up. Why? The use of profanity in the book caused me to seriously reflect on whether I should continue reading further.

Share

COinS