From: jjstrop at students.wisc.edu <jjstrop>
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 11:43:19 -0500

Kathleen,

Sorry to have taken so long to answer your message. Frankly, the discussion was taking such interesting turns I thought it better to stay out of it for a while. I also had to retreive the book that I had borrowed from the library.

I think I started questioning Steve's innocence because of the way the his lawyer dealt with him about his testimony and because of his parent's reaction to this crisis. At first his mother is shocked that he is being arrested, then later she is a fiercely loyal mother rather than an indignant one. His father is overwhelmed with grief not outraged at the injustice that is occurring.

While I agree with other responses that the central theme of the book isn't about race, I think it is indirectly about race. The statements by Walter Dean Myers that Ginny posted bring me to this conclusion. While this book is a provocative journey into ethical and moral complexity, I think Steve's case is also complicated by race. What I mean by this is that whether or not he was a "lookout" is not the point--even if his involvement was "minor" his punishment would likely have been outrageously unfair because he is a young black man.

Thanks for provoking some deep thinking with some great questions. Sorry to post this so late. Jan




At 08:23 AM 7/19/99 00, you wrote:
Received on Tue 03 Aug 1999 11:43:19 AM CDT