For Beautiful Black Boys

This book explores the issue of gun violence through the eyes of a young boy named Jeremiah. Jeremiah asks his parents’ permission to grow his hair into locs. After getting approval, he believes he will see instant results. But his parents tell him that it will take a long time, but to believe it will happen one day. During this growth process, Jeremiah tries to make sense of the world around him. He reads about the murder of Trayvon Martin with his dad but doesn’t want to talk at that point. He hears about the murder of Michael Brown on tv with his dad but doesn’t want to talk at that point. In their community, Jeremiah’s family experiences fear after gunshots ring out. He reads about the murders of the Charleston Nine from his father’s newspaper but doesn’t want to talk at that point. Jeremiah’s father is a community activist who attends rallies for murdered African American males, as well as officers killed in the line of duty. After processing it all, Jeremiah finally talks to his parents about his feelings. His parents assure him that it will take many strategies to exact change, but it can and will happen. Much like his locs have grown throughout the book, growth and change will come someday.