”An AK-47 in a White Hand has More Rights than a Black Kid with Skittles": Racial Profiling and Police Brutality in Contemporary African American Young Adult Literature

Abstract

This thesis discusses the victimization of black people by the police in the United States in the context of contemporary African American young adult literature. The focus is on the themes of racial profiling and police brutality, and how this kind of mistreatment effects the lives of black Americans and their relationship with the police. The objective of the thesis is to determine, how the topics of racial profiling and police brutality are presented in recent African American young adult literature, and how the novels participate in a current societal discussion regarding the topic. The analysis is based on three young adult novels, All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, Dear Martin by Nic Stone, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which all address the topics of racial profiling and police brutality. The events of the primary sources addressing the topics of racial profiling, police brutality, victim blaming, and trauma mirror reality and are compatible to sociological studies conducted in the United States. By focusing on the aforementioned themes, the novels bring attention to a current societal problem of racial profiling and police brutality and take a clear stance regarding the subject, expressing that race-based policing is a real issue that needs to be addressed. While the primary sources are fiction, they provide illustrations of a current societal problem, which can be used to better understand aspects of the real world.