Summary Of The 57 Bus By Daskha Slater

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Have you ever looked at life from a different perspective? In Daskha Slater’s nonfiction book The 57 Bus, we are shown a real-life crime that happened in 2013. In the book there are two main characters; the first one is Sasha, an agender/non-binary affirming teenager, who suffered from their skirt being burned. The second one is Richard, a 16-year-old black teenager, who sets Sasha’s skirt on fire and admits to it by saying that he’s homophobic. All of which made him not only guilty of a crime, but a hate crime on top of it. Slater used her writing ability to tell the stories of these characters and others. She tackled topics such as teen pregnancy, gender identity, and racism concerning the justice system. After reading the book, many people are quick to sympathize with …show more content…

By implementing this, Slater puts us into the seat of someone who isn’t part of a heteronormative society. As the book continues, Slater seamlessly transitions into Richard’s perspective, offering insight into his background, motivations, and struggles. By humanizing Richard, Slater challenges readers to confront their biases and preconceived notions about perpetrators of hate crimes. Through interviews with Richard, Slater reveals the complexities of his character and the societal pressures that influenced his actions. Richard’s perspective adds depth to the narrative, prompting readers to question the single story that is often perpetuated by the media and modern society. When spending time in a juvenile hall because of the incident, “Richard turned eighteen in Alameda County Juvenile Hall, just before being transferred back to Chad. Individual birthdays aren’t celebrated in Juvenile Hall, so it was a day exactly like any other day. Richard was used to that by now. He hadn’t spent a birthday at home since he’d turned fourteen.” (Slater

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