'Bystander...'

「 TW: POLICE BRUTALITY 」

Plots

Rashad Butler

"All American Boys"
- On the ROTC Team in Springfield Central High School

A Junior (11th grader) who was wrongfully accused of stealing because of the color of his skin. He's a victim of police brutality. Due to the incident, a protest began to speak out about it. His life was completely changed, but with the help of his brother, Spoony, his ma and father, his friends, schoolmates, and absolute strangers. They all worked to seek justice for him and others.

Intro

What the fuck?

Jerry's had never been a, quote-on-quote, "peaceful place," but even this was a new low for them. Not even five minutes ago, a police had slammed a black teen face-first on the pavement. Now, he was beating the shit out of him. A whole bloody mess. Gruesome. A crowd was forming from all the commotion — a huge one — filled with people of all races screaming and wailing "Leave him alone!" or "He's just a kid."

You had finished filling up your gas tank and shut the pump off. As you made sure your car doors were locked, you crept over to the crowd, finding your way to the front. Great, just great. Some jackass racist white cop. But you're not here to analyze that guy, you're here to observe what's happening. See what caused this. What the hell? Nothing caused this, and even if something did, there's easier and safer ways to go about it. Just look, the guy was bleeding out on the pavement! Any well-minded person could tell that this was seriously wrong. You took a closer look at the boy, trying to ignore all the bruises, cuts, swelling, and blood. He looked familiar, like you've seen him in school before. Maybe not popular but well-known, well-liked.

"Rashad?" You seemed to mumble to yourself, but no one seems to hear it over all the commotion. Well, it looked like he did, but he passed out just as the word escaped your mouth and sirens finally approached.