Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Justyce McAlister is a top student at a private school.  He is on his way to success, but when he goes to help his ex-girlfriend out, things go south quickly.  His ex-girlfriend was drunk, and he was trying to get her in the car to drive her home.  She wants to drive herself, but he cannot allow that to happen because she is in no shape to do that safely.  His ex-girlfriend is biracial, but she appears to be white, so the police officer assumes that Justyce is trying to rob her or cause her harm in some way.  Justyce is an African American male, and a police officer arrests him.  Justyce has never been in trouble with the police before, and he is not sure why he is being treated this way. He knows that this has happened to guys in his old neighborhood, but he is a clean cut, smart boy who is going places.

After this incident, he decides that he is going to read the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr and do what Martin does.  He begins writing letters to Martin to get his feelings on paper.  With the incident and the readings, Justyce begins to see things a bit clearer in his life.  The boys in the private school make a lot of "jokes" at his expense under the guise of just kidding around.  He has to examine his ideas and the actions of those around him.

Justyce also comes from a poor family, so he is on scholarship at this school.  But, his best friend, Manny, who is also an African American male, comes from money. They are great friends, but Manny has many things to figure out as well.  These boys must look at what is going on around them to see things as they are and not just as they want them to be.

This book is a must-read.  I have to say that there is a twist that I did not see coming, and it carried the story to a different place than I had envisioned.  I highly recommend reading this book.