“Incredible and searing.” –Nic Stone, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear MartinThe Hate U Give meets Just Mercy in this unflinching yet uplifting first novel that explores the racist injustices in the American justice system.Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After … organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time–her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town’s racist history that still haunt the present?
Fans of Nic Stone, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Jason Reynolds won’t want to miss this provocative and gripping debut.
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Although this was a quick read, it was painful to live vicariously through Tracy’s words.
The determination of the teenager to prove the innocence of her father and brother is admirable to say the least.
This was not the typical story of a minority fighting to be accepted but one where the fight is for justice.
A captivating and emotional read about the judicial system injustices. Tracy fights every day for her father’s wrongful prison sentence. Tragedy is quickly brought to her life again as a classmate is found murdered. Tracy and her friend Quincy work together to try to solve the mystery. Tracy is a strong girl who I was rooting for the whole way through the book.
There was no way for me to mentally and emotionally prepare for reading This Is My America. Kim Johnson did something so hard hitting with this book. Don’t assume anything about what you think you know about this book or where its heading because you will be dead wrong. As you race against time with Tracy in her attempts to save not only her father, but her brother as well she falls further into danger.
I totally fist pumped the air for Tracy and her bravery. She was an activist who fought for the freedom of her father, but also worked hard to write important stories at her school’s newspaper and hold meetings to educate people of color on how to act when pulled over by the police. Despite the fact that with each question she asked, places she snooped, and pieces of the bigger picture she put together, she never let the danger stop her from saving her brother. I loved as she worked with her friends to find justice for her brother in a town and system that failed her father and other black men of her community.
Most importantly, Kim Johnson does an outstanding job highlighting racism, trauma, hate groups and white nationalists, incarceration, and the justice system. I totally understand the Just Mercy comparison because the things Bryan Stevenson saw when getting justice for the men and women incarcerated is what I read in this book. Tracy and her family had suffered so much after the imprisonment of her father, a man that they knew was innocent. It took a toll on the family and how they dealt with the impact of his absence, finding justice, the system failing an innocent black man, the pressures on children with a parent missing in the home, and the judgments put on them. We also see how time after time the media sheds people of color in a different light in how they crop pictures and the words they choose to describe us in a bad light, the words they associate with us compared to white boys. The biggest punch to the guy for me was that Kim Johnson brought up a conversation that is often spoken of black households when it comes to racism in America. The fact that people’s parents and grandparents were KKK members and out lynching and killing anyone who was not white. People want to think it was a “long” time ago, but it really isn’t. The hate spewed by grandparents to their children are still alive today and has been passed on from the grandparent, to the child, to the grandchild.
I could go on and on about the perfection that is this book and how important it is to pick up and really read it. This is an outstandingly written novel and hit home for me. I cannot wait to see what else Kim Johnson writes. A must read author for me going forward.
This is My America is one of those books that as soon as I finished it, I needed to just walk away to compose myself because this book is an onslaught of emotions. This is also one of those books that should be required reading for everyone.
After reading the synopsis, I was a bit hesitant about picking this one up because I knew that this story would tear me apart, but what the author does so well as tackle timely issues with racial justice with grace all while delivering a truly addictive story that I could not put down.
In addition to the typical pressures that high schoolers are facing in that time period before college, Tracy Beaumont has the added weight of time ticking down to the execution of her father who is sitting on death row for a murder that took place seven years prior. Every week for seven years, Tracy has written a letter to Innocence X (similar to the Innocence Project) to take her father’s case. What Tracy doesn’t expect is for another murder to occur in her town, and now her brother Jamal stands accused.
There is a LOT to unpack in this book, and I will not be able to adequately do it in this review, so I at least want to hit on some of the key takeaways.
The author unapologetically puts mass incarceration of Black men front and center in this story as well as the consequences the families face as a result. Tracy’s family went from a two parent middle class household to a single parent household where they are struggling to make ends meet. We get an intimate look at how this has affected both Tracy and Lamar’s upbringing BUT, the worst part was that their younger sister NEVER met her father since their mother was pregnant when the arrest took place.
Another huge theme in this book is the generational trauma. The generational trauma of Black people was unsurprising. What I was not prepared for was the generational trauma of white people who are expected to uphold the racist beliefs within a family construct. This part of the book was incredibly difficult for me because I was angry and really wanted to offer no sympathy whatsoever. However, I do think that this is something that needs to be addressed and discussed more frequently in today’s society.
As far as characters go, Tracy is front runner of this book. She’s intelligent, fierce, loyal, and unwilling to give up on what she believes in. For a 17 year old, she is so rooted in her fundamental beliefs that I was in constant awe that she was a teenager. That being said, I think a lot of that has to do with what she’s had to endure and NOT to say that this is unrealistic.
I will be honest that there is a love triangle type of subplot in this book. There’s Dean, Tracy’s best friend and Quincy, a long time family friend. Dean is white and Quincy is Black. While I don’t think that a romance plot was needed in this book, I think the focus was meant to be more on the discussion of interracial dating and how the expectations for Black women versus Black men are vastly different. This is an ongoing discussion within the Black community, so from that aspect, I completely understood why it needed to be addressed, and I thought it was done well.
A lot of people are going to ask how this book is a different narrative to what we’ve seen with Angie Thomas’ The Hate You Give and Nic Stone’s Dear Martin, but I promise you that This is My America is not like this books. There is a much needed space for this book, and I implore you to give it a chance.
Thank you to Get Underlined for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
Excellent and timely debut novel that resonates in today’s America.
My Review for
THIS IS MY AMERICA
By Kim Johnson
Published by Random House
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This book has enriched my thoughts, my life and my every sense of being. It is such a fantastic voice for THE BLACK LIVES MOVEMENT, that I think this should be required reading for all schools in today’s world. It is gut wrenching but honest; forceful yet brave and an eye opener that every person of color needs to read. It helps readers understand what so many are ignorant of based on our upbringings and of not knowing any better. Knowledge is power and there are no excuses now, read to obtain what it is to be black; if even for a brief period. What so many who are anti-Black Lives matters don’t get is…The rest of our lives have always mattered and been recognized; it’s TIME THAT BLACK LIVES MATTER TOO! It’s not saying black lives matter more or in spite of, its demanding to finally receive that same recognition that we have always had.
When you learn about Tracy Beaumont’s family, you will realize on the inside it isn’t much different than your own. A mother & father, brother Jamal who is a track star and a little sister Corinne who’s as cute as can be. The difference? Oh yeah, the father is being held in prison on Death Row and they are Black.
Tracy’s dad was pinned with a murder 7 years earlier while trying to develop on land with his partner. Even though there were eyewitnesses saying he couldn’t have committed the crime and besides there being absolutely no proof, he was sentenced for the murder of a couple and his partner was shot and killed.
Tracey has been trying to write to obtain free legal services every week for the past 7 years. All the while not hearing an answer back. But things get desperate when her brother Jamal stands accused of murdering a white girl that he was friendly with and again, there is no proof of his involvement. However, Jamal gets scared and goes on the lam. Now Tracey is writing to get the attention of Innocence X for her father and her brother.
There is no time to spare and Tracey begins to start her own investigation. What she uncovers is enough to put her life at risk and some things are so incomprehensible they are appalling. Tracey doesn’t know who to trust and if the police are indeed on the right side of the law.
I think this is a powerful book and in today’s climate these stories are so important. I enjoyed all the characters. My only wish is that there was a little more character development throughout the story. They all felt a bit stagnant at times.
Also, I felt there was too much going on. We have one family with two very powerful stories that sometimes gets lost with a little romance that just seemed out of place. Also, I think Jamal’s story could have been woven in just a little better. It seemed almost forced sometimes even though it was a huge part or was supposed to be.
This book does give good background on things we as a society love to brush under the rug and not deal with. They bring them to light and remind us all that these things are still happening in our backyards.
All in all this is a powerful story and I think we all should be searching more of these out. The cover is stunning and I look forward to reading more from this author.
A timely and raw read during current times in America. It’s a must-read, especially for allies and non-Black POCs. Essential reading for summer, book club, library programs, school, leisure, and self-education. Highly recommend.
Kim Johnson’s This Is My America is a searing look into the racial inequality and injustice that continues to permeate modern society.
For the past seven years, Tracy Beaumont has written a weekly letter to Innocence X, begging the organization to help exonerate her father, who was wrongly convicted of a double murder charge and sentenced to death. With less than a year left to save her father, the unthinkable happens: the police show up looking for her older brother, Jamal. Afraid that he’ll share the same fate as his father, Jamal is on the run, and Tracy is working against the clock to unearth what happened in order to save her brother. As the racist underpinnings of their small town are unearthed, she’ll realize there’s more at stake than she initially suspected.
In my opinion, this should be required reading in all schools. Not only does Johnson deftly address the very pertinent and timely issue of racial inequality in the criminal justice system, but she shows us the myriad ways that Black people have to navigate a world that is designed to uphold white supremacy. We see the microaggressions, the implicit biases, the overt acts of racism, all through the lens of a 17-year-old girl who is as strong as she is soft. We need more female protagonists, especially Black female protagonists. And we need more stories that humanize the struggle that Black people face daily. (We shouldn’t have to have it all spelled out for us, but history has shown us that we do.)
Johnson creates relatable characters who you feel a kinship with. The reader has a vested interest in how everything plays out. I found Tracy’s journey especially compelling, as she’s navigating some pretty heavy, adult stuff in congruence with a lot of teenage stuff. Her friendships with both Dean and Quincy are also interesting, complicated, and beautiful. I love the sense of family that she creates with the Beaumonts. They’re there for each other every step of the way, never wavering, never doubting.
To me, this is a must-read; an important read; a life-changing read.
I received an ARC of This Is My America from NetGalley and Random House Children’s in exchange for my honest review.