Shades of Black
Shades of Black
“Who is this Sim that is on the phone?” asks his mother.
“She’s a friend, Mom,” answers Romero.
“Mmhmm, I hope y’all studying your schoolwork,” his mother says firmly. “You better not be bringing home any children in this house.”
Simone continues to giggle. His mother hangs up.
“Ugh, that was so embarrassing.”
“See, your mother basically confirmed us breaking up is for the best,” says Simone.
“I know, it’s just spending last summer with you was the best time of my life, and I want all of my remaining days on this Earth to be like last summer,” says Romero.
“Awww, you’re so sweet. You’re not making this easy,” says Simone.
“That’s why you should reconsider us breaking up,” says Romero optimistically. “Anyway, I got to let you go before my mother picks up the phone and kills me with embarrassment again.”
Romero’s mother picks up the phone again and starts pressing buttons. He exhales deeply and then hangs up.
Today is the worst day of my life.
“ROMERO?”
“YES, MOM?”
He stands to his feet and exits the room. He walks toward the kitchen and sees his mother in an apron watching television from the kitchen. The news is on, and it’s covering the shooting that took place at the school earlier.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the shooting that happened at school?”
Why, so you can have something additional to gossip to your sister about?
“I tried to tell you when I got in from school, but you were on the phone talking to Aunty Crystal.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“I didn't see what happened. All I heard was gunshots and saw people running. That’s also what I told the police.”
“You spoke to the police without a parent or a lawyer present?”
If I tried to advocate for myself, you would have been angry because the school called you and interrupted your day, and you know we ain’t got no money for a lawyer. I was doing our family a favor.
“Our principal said it’s best that we cooperate with the police to help them out with their investigation.”
“I don't like that at all, Romero. You’re a minor. You should not be speaking to the police without a lawyer or a parent present,” says his mother. “You don’t see how the police are killing us Black folk for nothing these days.”
There’s just no winning in this house.
“Well, what am I supposed to do? It’s not like I have the support of my teachers or principals. They’ll look at me as being difficult, and then I’ll get in trouble. If I get in trouble with them, they’ll call you, and you’ll beat me when I get home. IT’s a lose-lose situation.”
“Well, I’m just happy you haven’t been hurt,” says his mother.
“Hey, Mom, I overheard a few kids were going to therapy to process the potential trauma from what happened at school today. Do you think that’s something that I can do?”
“Chile, therapy is a scam. I’m not paying another person to talk to you about your problems. Besides, you didn’t get shot, you don’t have any bills, and you don’t have a job, so what can you possibly be stressed about?” asks his mother.
Why do I even bother trying?
Romero is attending a new high school in Etobicoke, Rexdale High. He’s nervous, but he’s happy to see that the student body is more ethnically diverse than his last school where he was one of three black students. Romero is looking for a fresh start at this school where he can reinvent himself and be cool and popular. His first day presents a test, however, as Romero is confronted by another student and Romero punches him in the face. Romero is starting to make some friends, but he’s struggling to fit in and works on learning the popular secret handshake. He also learns that there are two rival gangs at his school and is happy to keep away from them.
Lunchtime arrives on his first day, and Romero and his new friends go to the cafeteria for lunch. There’s a small group blocking the entrance and asking students for money to get in. Kalindra is the leader of her group of three, and Romero learns that they follow her because they’re trying to get closer with her brother who is a big time drug dealer that could give them a job. Romero and his group are allowed in, but Kalindra stops the next group. One of the boys yells that he won’t pay her, and a fight breaks out in the cafeteria. Kalindra pulls out a gun and accidentally shoots the student she’s fighting with in the leg. They flee to the McDonald’s down the street to get away from the situation, but it isn’t long before the police show up. They all run. Some of them get caught, but Kalindra gets away with the gun in her backpack. Romero, Thomas, and Desmond meet up with Kalindra and tell her she has to go home and hide. Kalindra tries to get Romero to take the gun and hide it for her, but he refuses because his mother and stepfather are already so hard on him and treat him like an outcast. Thomas and Desmond agree to hide the gun at their house. It doesn’t take long, however, before Thomas and Desmond have to move the gun, and they bring it to Romero’s house. Reluctantly, Romero agrees to hide the gun.
The next morning, Romero has the gun in his backpack which he puts it by the door while he helps his mom get his little brothers ready for school. He looks around and sees his brother, Leonard, reaching in his bag. Romero yells at him and tells him to keep out of his stuff. He zips up his bag and makes his way to school. When he gets to school, Romero hides the gun in the back of a toilet. The police see him coming out of the bathroom, and Romero starts running. The cops tackle him and search his bag, but they don’t find anything.
Kalinda is staying at home waiting for things to blow over and her brother, Keith, comes in to talk to her. When he finds out that Kalinda took one of his guns, he’s mad! Because he wants the gun back right away, he and Kalinda drive to the school to find Romero. Keith does get the gun back, and Romero is very relieved. It isn’t until Keith is at home cleaning the gun that he discovers it’s a toy gun! Kalinda and Keith drive to Romero’s to ask about the real gun. Romero admits that his little brother, Leonard, switched the guns and it accidentally went off while he was playing with it, but, thankfully, no one was hurt. The neighbour heard the shot and called police who showed up just as Romero was giving Keith the real gun. Keith and Kalinda see the cops coming and start running. Kalinda is shot in the shoulder and goes down. Then both she and Keith are arrested. Romero, feeling that he needs more support than his mom and stepfather can give, calls his Uncle Steps to meet up with him and hopefully let him move in with him so he can start over, yet again.
Anthony has crafted a fast paced, multifaceted story that brings many heavy issues to the surface including the difficulties with maneuvering adolescence, being Black, school shootings, gangs, drugs, poor parenting, deportment, and determining where loyalty lies. The story provides the reader with a believable dark look into what some teens could be going through. Interestingly, the main character maintains a running inner dialogue which helps the reader understand how he’s not only caught up in a dangerous situation, but he’s also struggling with fitting in and being cool. Though some readers may find this novel a little heavy-handed at times because it does present so many issues, they are all important and offer several entry points to consider Romero’s situation. This novel would be suitable for teens and young adults, but they may require some support in understanding the underlying intricacies of such complicated topics.
Penta Ledger is a teacher-librarian at Gravenhurst High School in Gravenhurst, Ontario.