Officer Castillo slams Justyce against a car hood and arrests him while he tries to help his drunk ex-girlfriend get home safely.

Justyce writes his first letter to Dr. King, vowing to use King's teachings to guide him through his anger and confusion.

During a class debate on racial equality, Jared argues America is color-blind while SJ counters with statistics about systemic racism.

The Equality Brigade goes out in stereotype costumes, including Blake in a Ku Klux Klan outfit that deeply disturbs Justyce and Manny.

Black Jihad gang members confront the Equality Brigade at a party, warning Justyce and Manny that their white friends don't see them as equals.

Justyce and SJ win the state debate championship arguing about racial profiling and the myth of the superpredator.

Justyce tries to kiss SJ after their debate victory, but she turns away and avoids him for the rest of the evening.

At Blake's birthday party, Justyce confronts Blake's racist décor and language and ends up in a physical fight.

Justyce calls Manny a sellout after Manny defends their white friends, then walks away from Manny's car into an unfamiliar neighborhood.

An angry white man in a Suburban screams a racial slur at Manny and Justyce for playing loud music at a traffic light.

Gunshots are fired into Manny and Justyce's car at a traffic light, killing Manny and wounding Justyce.

At Manny's funeral, Justyce witnesses Jared's genuine grief while his own mother warns him that SJ should remain just a friend.

A grand jury indicts off-duty officer Garrett Tison on multiple charges in connection with Manny's shooting death.

Tison's defense attorney questions Justyce on the witness stand, portraying him as violent and connected to gang members.

Justyce writes to Dr. King from his Yale dorm room, resuming his letters and committing to discover his true self.

Justyce McAllister is wrongfully arrested by Officer Castillo while trying to help his drunk ex-girlfriend, a moment that shatters his belief that academic success protects him from racial profiling. Turning to Dr. King's writings for guidance, Justyce navigates increasingly tense confrontations with his white classmates, from a racially charged classroom debate to a Halloween stunt involving Ku Klux Klan imagery. After winning the state debate championship with SJ, Justyce's world fractures further when a night out ends in a fistfight and a devastating rupture in his friendship with Manny. The breaking point arrives when an angry white driver shoots into Manny and Justyce's car at a traffic light, killing Manny and leaving Justyce to grieve and seek justice alone. Despite testifying at trial only to see the case end in a partial mistrial, Justyce eventually arrives at Yale and chooses integrity over despair, resuming his letters to Dr. King.

The headline events of Justyce's fight against racial injustice.

Manny refuses to drive to help Melo, so Justyce walks a mile alone at night to stop her from driving drunk.

Melo's parents arrive at the arrest scene but police keep Justyce in handcuffs for hours before finally releasing him.

Manny's mother receives a call that Manny's cousin Quan has been arrested for the murder of Officer Castillo.

In the senior lounge, Jared and friends toast to racial equality while Manny laughs uncomfortably along at their side.

Justyce's mother listens to his frustrations and firmly tells him that people who make history are not supposed to fit in.

Justyce receives his Yale acceptance letter and calls SJ to share the news before he even tells his own mother.

SJ leaps into Justyce's arms to celebrate his Yale acceptance, but the joyful moment ends abruptly when Melo appears.

Jared angrily argues in class that Justyce's Yale acceptance was the result of affirmative action quotas rather than his own merit.

Manny quits the basketball team and punches Jared after Jared makes a racist joke about a Black woman and her children.

Manny tells Justyce he was right all along — their white friends have never truly respected either of them.

Manny's father tells the boys about a white employee's racial slur at work and urges them not to let racism block their success.

Jared's family contacts the school and announces plans to press assault charges against Manny for punching Jared.

A news broadcast airs an out-of-context photo of Justyce dressed as a thug stereotype, immediately shifting public opinion against him.

Garrett Tison is found dead inside his jail cell, ending any possibility of a second trial on the felony murder charge.

Justyce finds Jared already standing at Manny's grave and the two reconcile, with Jared revealing he plans to study civil rights law.

Before his arrest, Justyce demonstrates his character by walking a mile at night to stop his ex-girlfriend from driving drunk, only to be held in handcuffs for hours while police ignore her parents' explanations. At school, he quietly observes his peers dismiss racial inequality in class and toast to hollow equality in the senior lounge, while Manny's cousin Quan is simultaneously arrested for murdering Officer Castillo. Justyce's Yale acceptance sparks complicated emotions — SJ's enthusiasm is cut short by Melo's interruption, and Jared's bitter affirmative action accusations threaten to overshadow the achievement entirely. Manny's growing awareness of racism culminates in a punch thrown at Jared, triggering assault charges that place Manny in legal jeopardy just before the fatal car ride. After Manny's death, a decontextualized photo of Justyce shifts public opinion against him, justice is denied when Tison is killed before a retrial, and a graveside encounter with Jared offers the novel's most unexpected note of reconciliation and hope.

The supporting moments that shaped Justyce's journey from prep school to Yale.

Justyce realizes his arrest proves that academic achievement and good intentions offer Black men no shield against racial profiling.

After the Equality Brigade party, Justyce talks with SJ on the phone for three hours; she apologizes for speaking over him in class.

Manny confides to Justyce that he is nervous about attending Morehouse College, fearing he won't belong among a predominantly Black student body.

Justyce and SJ's feelings for each other intensify as they argue passionately together and win the state debate championship.

Tavarrius Jenkins, a Black teenager shot by an off-duty officer while helping a white woman with her car, dies from his wounds.

Doc visits Justyce after the fight at Blake's party and explains why Manny, raised in affluent white spaces, could not easily recognize racism.

The Rivers family gives Justyce the watch they had planned to gift Manny on his eighteenth birthday, engraved with Manny's initials.

During a jail visit, Quan reveals to Justyce that shooter Garrett Tison was Officer Castillo's partner on the force when Castillo was killed.

Quan explains the Black Man's Curse — harsher treatment for Black men regardless of conduct — and hands Justyce a number to reach gang leader Martel.

Mr. Julian Rivers is pushed out of his VP position at work after publicly joining the Justice for JAM protest movement.

Justyce visits gang leader Martel and feels genuinely understood, until he spots a sawed-off shotgun hidden under the coffee table and flees.

Justyce goes to SJ's house, breaks down crying in her arms, and asks her on a date for the very first time.

Police officers approach Justyce at his graduation ceremony and reveal that Black Jihad members have named him as an arson accomplice.

The jury convicts Tison on three counts but deadlocks on felony murder, resulting in a partial mistrial and the prospect of a second trial.

Justyce realizes at Yale that, like Dr. King, he must learn who he truly is and live honestly by his own convictions.

Justyce's arrest forces a painful revelation — no level of academic achievement shields a Black man from racial profiling — and he begins processing this truth through letters to Dr. King and an honest late-night phone call with SJ that deepens their bond. Quieter turning points follow as Manny privately confesses his fear of fitting into an all-Black college world, and the death of Tavarrius Jenkins, shot by police while helping a white woman, strikes Justyce as a haunting near-miss of his own fate. After Manny's murder, a jail visit with Quan delivers a stunning revelation about Tison's personal connection to Officer Castillo, and the Rivers family's gift of Manny's engraved watch transforms grief into a tangible symbol of responsibility and memory. Desperate for understanding, Justyce seeks out gang leader Martel but is jolted back to his principles when he spots a hidden shotgun, steering him toward SJ and a new beginning — only for his graduation to be interrupted by a false accusation of arson. A partial mistrial and a graveside reconciliation with Jared leave Justyce changed, and it is only at Yale, resuming his letters, that he grasps the hardest truth: like King, he can only control who he chooses to be.

The key discoveries and decisions that transformed Justyce's understanding of himself and the world.