Jared’s the Yuppie/Politician. He’s wearing a suit…even has a spot on his chin where he nicked himself shaving and left the little piece of tissue there “for effect.”
Tyler’s the Surfer Dude: board shorts and a tank top even though it’s only fifty degrees out.
Kyle went with the Redneck: woodland camouflage shirt, overalls, trucker hat with a Confederate flag patch, dingy cowboy boots. He even had his sister attach a few of her hair extensions so he has a mullet. Frankly, this one is toeing the line, but okay. Not quite crossing it.
Blake, though? Blake takes it too far. He’s dressed as a Klansman. He’s got on the white robe with the circular red and white cross patch on the chest, and he even has the pointed hood with the eyeholes cut out. If Jus didn’t know it was a costume, he’d be a little scared.
“J…uhh…can I talk to you for a sec, dawg?” Manny says to Jared, who, to Justyce’s surprise, also seems pretty uncomfortable with Blake’s choice of attire.
“Sure, man.”
They walk to Manny’s room, and Justyce is left standing with the others.
“Justyce, that costume is sick, homie!” Blake says. (Because a Klansman would definitely call a black guy homie.)
Jus fights the urge to shake his head. “Yours is…uhh…”
“Wait till I put the hood on, bro. This right here is the genuine article.” He spreads his arms, beaming like he’s wrapped in a garment formerly worn by Jesus. Justyce is tempted to ask where the “genuine article” came from, but he’s not sure he wants to know the answer.
Just then, Jared reappears. “Hey, Justyce, Manny wants to talk to you, bro.”
Justyce nods and takes the deepest breath he’s ever taken, then strides to Manny’s room with eight white-boy eyes burning into him like lasers.
Yeah, this blows.
“ ’Sup, dawg?” Jus says once he steps in and closes Manny’s door. (Though of course he already knows what it’s about.)
“So Blake’s costume is…Well, you saw it.”
Jus snorts. “I did.”
“If you…umm”—Manny scratches his neck—“don’t wanna go anymore—”
“It’s cool, Manny.”
Manny’s thick eyebrows jump to the sky. “It is?”
“Yeah, man.” Truth is, four hours ago, Jus was ready to back out because the idea of going anywhere with Jared and crew just felt wrong, knowing what he knows about how they think. But then he stumbled upon Martin’s definition of integration—“intergroup and interpersonal living”—and decided to just go with it. He’s not sure this is exactly what Martin meant, but what is he supposed to say? “You ready to go, dawg?”
“Oh.” Manny clears his throat. “I guess so.”
“Let’s roll, then.” Jus leaves the room. It’s just a costume, right? Brotherhood for the win.
As soon as Jus and Manny get back to the others, Jared takes a bunch of group pictures and posts them online. Then he says, “Equality Brigade, let’s ride,” and leads the charge to the door.
When they get to Manny’s car and Blake pulls on the hood and raises his arm in the Nazi salute, Justyce knows the train he just hopped on is headed downhill in a major way. It occurs to him that the moment he said he was cool with the whole thing, he cut the brake lines and completely surrendered his power to stop it.
—
And he’s right.
Not five minutes after they get to the party, somebody sucker-punches Blake in the face. The burst of bright red beneath the eyeholes in his pointed hood makes Justyce sick to his stomach.
The next thing he knows, there’s a group of genuinely thugged-out black dudes—and one white guy—standing in front of the Equality Brigade, looking like they wanna break ALL of their stereotype faces.
The worst part? Justyce knows every single one of them. They live in his mom’s neighborhood. This is Manny’s cousin’s crew. Jus is pretty sure they all belong to a gang called the Black Jihad run by a crazy older dude named Martel Montgomery.
A dark-skinned guy with short dreadlocks gives Jus a once-over and smiles. “That’s a real funny costume, Justyce.”
“Oh…uhhh…thanks, Trey.” (Definitely not Jus’s most valiant moment.)
“And you…,” Trey says to Manny. “You Quan cousin, right?”
“Yeah,” Manny says, scratching the back of his neck.
“The fuck y’all doin’ here with these assclowns, bruh? Just gon’ letcha boy disrespect our people like that?” Trey points to Blake, who has removed his pointed hood and is holding it to his nose to stanch the bleeding.
Jared: Dude, we didn’t mean you any disrespect—
Manny: Chill, Jared.
Trey: Yeah, Jared. You should really shut ya mouth right now. Your boy has made me and my dudes upset coming in here dressed like that.
Justyce: Trey, he didn’t mean anything by it, dawg. We were doing this satire thing with stereotypes, and it went too far. Lesson learned.
Trey smiles at Justyce then. Well, more like sneers. It makes Jus feel like cockroaches are walking all over him. “You ain’t changed a bit, Justyce. Still Mr. Smarty-Pants,” Trey says, and then one of the others pipes up: “Y’all know he goes to that rich-ass white school out in Oak Ridge now.”
“It’s called Braselton Prep,” Jared corrects.
Justyce really wants Jared to shut the hell up.
“Ooooh.” The white dude—Brad, Jus believes—raises his hands in mock adoration.
Trey looks back and forth between Jus and Manny. “Don’t get it twisted, my dawgs. These white boys might be standing here next to y’all, but y’all still ain’t nothin’ but niggas to them, ya heard me?” he says. “Ain’t no amount of money nor intelligence can change that shit.”
Jared: Hey, man, that’s not true. You don’t ev—
“Shut UP, Jared!” (This from Surfer-Tyler.) “Let’s just leave, bro.”
Trey: Sounds like a great idea to me.
Jared: Bro, this isn’t even your party. You can’t tell us to leave.
Trey laughs, and one of the other guys lifts his shirt to reveal the handgun grip sticking out of his waistband.
“I most certainly can, white boy,” Trey says. “Now you and ya li’l crew getcha punk asses outta here before things escalate.”
The guy with the gun smiles at Jus. “You and rich boy can stay with us if you want to.” All the Black Jihad guys laugh.
Trey: Bruh, you know these niggas don’t wanna chill with us. They “goin places” and shit. Gotta stay connected to the white man for the ride to the top….
He nudges the white guy with them, and they both snicker.
“Let’s go, y’all,” Jus says.
As they turn to leave, Justyce can feel Manny trying to catch his attention, but he stares straight ahead. They step outside and the chilly night air hits their faces. Jus hears Jared ask Manny, “You all right, bro?”
“Yeah, man. I’m cool,” Manny replies.
Jared steps ahead to talk to the others, and Jus watches Manny examine his tied sweater, his khakis, his loafers—his “costume” made up of clothes he pulled from his closet. He unties the sweater, then looks up at Justyce.