Events

    Participants will have read I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina prior to the meeting. This graphic novel is the first young adult graphic novel to focus on police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement. Alfonso Jones can't wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school's hip-hop rendition of the Shakespearean play. He also wants to tell his best friend, Danetta, how he really feels about her. But as he is buying his first suit, an off-duty police officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun and shoots Alfonso. When he wakes up in the afterlife, he's on a ghost train guided by well-known victims of police shootings. Alfonso's family and friends struggle with their grief and seek justice for Alfonso in the streets. They and Alfonso realize the work necessary in the fight for justice. The discussion will be led bilingually to accommodate all participants. We will use the incidents in the book to create a discussion about the larger issues faced by the characters and how they might relate...