Justyce: You need to chill, S.
SJ: Are you serious?
Justyce: Yeah, I am.
SJ: You of all people know I’m right, Jus—
Justyce: Leave me outta this.
SJ: Fine. Bottom line, it’s been over two centuries, and African Americans are still getting a raw deal.
Jared: Coulda fooled me.
SJ: Oh my god. Do you watch the news at all? The name Shemar Carson ring a bell, maybe?
Jared: Ah, here we go. Not every white person who kills a black person is guilty of a crime. Pretty sure the courts proved that yesterday.
SJ: All the courts “proved” yesterday was that a white guy can kill an unarmed teenager and get away with it if the kid is black.
Doc: Conjecture, SJ. You know better. You two need to tread carefully here.
Jared: Dude, the kid attacked the cop and tried to take his gun. And he had a criminal record.
Justyce: Hold up, man. The attack was alleged. There weren’t any witnesses—
Jared: I thought you were staying out of it?
Doc: Watch it, Mr. Christensen.
Jared: He said it, not me.
Justyce: [Grits teeth.]
SJ: Maybe if you actually followed the case instead of getting your information from social media—
Jared: Doesn’t change the fact that the guy’d been arrested before. You don’t get arrested if you’re not doing anything wrong. Bottom line, he was a criminal.
SJ: The charge on his record—which is public, so you can go look it up—was a misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
Jared: So? Do the crime, do the time.
SJ: Jared, you bought an ounce of weed two days ago—
Doc: Don’t make me write you up, SJ.
SJ: I saw it with my own eyes, Doc!
Jared: What I do with my money is none of your or anyone else’s business.
Justyce: [Snorts.] Course it’s not. But what Shemar did with his is everyone’s, right?
Doc: Y’all better get back on topic before I start handing out detentions.
SJ: My point is I’ve seen you commit the same crime Shemar Carson had on the “criminal record” you mentioned.
Jared: Whatever, SJ.
SJ: I know you’d prefer to ignore this stuff because you benefit from it, but walking around pretending inequality doesn’t exist won’t make it disappear, Jared. You and Manny, who are equal in pretty much every way apart from race, could commit the same crime, but it’s almost guaranteed that he would receive a harsher punishment than you.
Manny: Why do I keep getting pulled into this?
Jared: Obviously because you’re black, bro.
Everyone: [Snickers.]
SJ: Numbers don’t lie.
Justyce: [Rubs his wrists again.]
Jared: Yeah, yeah. We get it. Your mom’s the big-shot attorney. You have alllllll the facts.
SJ: Deflect all you want, but you can’t deny that you get away with stuff Manny could never get away with.
Manny: I swear I’m changing my name.
Jared: Maybe I get away with it because I’m not dumb enough to get caught.
Justyce: Wow.
SJ: You get away with it because you’re white, asshole.
Doc: Sarah-Jaaaaaaane—
Jared: You looked in a mirror lately, SJ? You’re just as white as I am.
SJ: Yeah, and I recognize that and how it benefits me.
Jared: Do you? Sounds like you’re jumping on the White Is Wrong bandwagon to me.
Justyce: [Cracks his knuckles and shakes his head.]
SJ: Whatever, Jared. Bottom line, nobody sees us and automatically assumes we’re up to no good.
Everyone: […]
SJ: We’ll never be seen as criminals before we’re seen as people.
Everyone: […]
Justyce: I’m going to the bathroom. [Gets up and leaves.]
Due to the restaurant-like setup of the Bras Prep senior lounge, Jared, Manny, and their “crew”—Kyle Berkeley, Tyler Clepp, and Blake Benson—don’t see Justyce sitting in the back booth when they come in.
True to form, Jared disregards Doc’s “everything stays in this room” directive, and since he’s obviously under the impression that he and his bros have the lounge to themselves, he doesn’t bother to keep his voice down once the five of them are seated:
Jared: Can you believe that asshole? What kind of teacher has the nerve to suggest there’s racial inequality to a classroom full of millennials?
Kyle: Seriously, bro? He said that shit?
Jared: I kid you not, bro. The dean should fire his ass. I seriously might have my dad give the school a call.
Tyler: Damn, homie.
Jared: And of course SJ jumped right on it. I think the fact that her mom has to constantly defend all those thugs is starting to screw with her head.
Blake, Kyle, and Tyler: [Laugh.]
Manny: [Laughs belatedly.]
Jared: If you ask me, she wants Justyce to pop her little cherry.
Kyle: Well, seeing as you never did it…
Jared: Shut up. We were in eighth grade.
Blake: You still totally wanna tap that, bro.
Kyle: Too late, though…if Justyce is your competition, you’re screwed, dog. “Once you go black,” right, Manny?
Manny: [Snorts.]
Tyler: Too bad for SJ, Justyce has his hands full with Melo Taylor—literally.
Jared: Which makes no sense to me, bro. What the hell does a hottie like Melo Taylor see in a guy who can’t afford a Happy Meal?
Manny: Maybe it’s not about money, J.
Jared: Says the dude who drives a Range Rover.
Blake, Kyle, and Tyler: [Laugh.]
Manny: Dawg, what is it with you today?
Jared: I’m just sick of people suggesting African Americans still have it so hard these days. I don’t care what SJ says, Manny. Your parents are totally proof that things are equal now.
Blake: They really are.
Jared: Right here, right now, on these red hills of Georgia, a son of former slaves and sons of former slave owners are sitting down at the table of brotherhood, dude. The Dream has been realized!
Tyler: Damn, bro. That was really poetic.
Manny: That’s from the I Have a Dream speech, T.
Jared: Remember, bro? I had to memorize that shit for our eighth-grade Heritage Play.
Blake: That’s right! Token black guy over here got sick or something, right?
Jared: Exactly.
Kyle: You had one job, Manny.
Manny: Shut up, fool.
Jared: I still remember the whole speech.
Manny: That wasn’t the whole speech, J.
Jared: Whatever. It was the most important part, and I remember all of it. They put brown makeup on me and everything.
Blake: I remember that, dude! You totally got a standing ovation!
Kyle: See, things really are equal nowadays, bro. A white kid can play a famous black dude in a play, and it’s no big deal.
Jared: Exactly! This is a color-blind society, my brethren…people are judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.
Kyle: Right, dude. Like I totally don’t even see you as black, Manny!
[Manny laughs at this, but Justyce can tell his heart isn’t in it. The statement makes Justyce think about those handcuffs…these fools might not “see” Manny “as black,” but Justyce knows damn well the police would.]
Jared: My brothers, let us raise our Perrier bottles to EQUALITY!
Blake: Equality!
Tyler: Equality!
Kyle: Hell yeah, dude! Equality!