As the nation grappled repeatedly with the issue of police brutality, 10 teenage girls participating in a Ward 5 after-school program met weekly from 2015 to 2017 to collaborate on a novel, drawing from their own experiences and observations. Last month, the resulting book — The Day Tajon Got Shot — drew favorable reviews from the DC Council, which presented a ceremonial resolution to the young authors in view of the novel’s impact since its publication in March 2017.
The resolution honors T’Asia Bates, J’yona Calloway, Reiyanna Davis, Jonae Haynesworth, Makiya Holmes, Rose McKoy, Najae Purvis, Serenity Summers, Jeanet Teneyck and Temil Whipple for using their voices to contribute to the national conversation on police brutality.
“When we were deciding what to write about, it was during the time of Trayvon Martin, and all the other shootings were happening,” said Whipple, a 17-year-old senior at Dunbar High School. “So we decided to make the book about police brutality.”
The novel centers around Tajon, a hard-working 16-year-old from a poor black neighborhood who is fatally shot by a white police officer. Though the location is never specified, the setting reflects the students’ own surroundings in and around Edgewood, the Ward 5 neighborhood where they live.
Each author wrote from a different character’s perspective. Whipple voiced Tajon’s character; others offered the perspectives of Tajon’s friends and his father, as well as those of the police officer and his family.
“It wasn’t too hard to write from Tajon’s perspective,” Whipple said. “I just used the everyday stuff I see — what was already happening — and then made it from my perspective.”
The writing project began as a collaboration between two local nonprofits — Beacon House, which offers after-school education and youth development programs in Edgewood, and Shout Mouse Press, which operates writing workshops in DC and Haiti in an effort to nourish and publish unheard voices. The two groups had worked together before with a few of the girls on a different novel, Trinitoga — about growing up in a crime-ridden neighborhood like their own. For their next project, organizers wanted the girls to write about an even more challenging theme.
“We started the conversation by asking the girls: ‘What is something meaningful that is happening in your community that is not being heard?’” said Kathy Crutcher, founder of Shout Mouse Press. “We were not trying to be divisive or combative, but trying to have nuanced conversations.”
Once the students began writing, Beacon staff made sure the students were attentive and engaged in the novel, and Shout Mouse representatives helped them with the writing and editing process along the way.
“It’s important to us that their voices are not censored,” Crutcher said, noting that their novel deals with a number of serious themes, including violence and alcohol abuse as well as police brutality. “There’s a lot of heavy material in this book that isn’t necessarily related to the shooting.”
Since its initial publication, The Day Tajon Got Shot has won multiple awards. In 2018, Foreword Reviews, a magazine that focuses on work by self-published authors and independent press titles, gave it the “Gold” Book of the Year Award in a category for authors under the age of 17. Also in 2018, the committee that bestows the In the Margins Book Awards selected it the top fiction winner among titles published in the United States and Canada in 2016 and 2017 for children living in difficult circumstances. The authors have visited several DC schools to educate middle-school-aged children on the book’s themes.
“The first reading was kind of weird because it was in front of adults,” said J’yona Calloway, a 15-year-old sophomore at School Without Walls High School, who was only 11 or 12 when she began writing the novel. “But then I realized we have to take it seriously if we want them to take it seriously, and show them that it’s a serious matter.”
Danielle Schmutz, director of programs and operations for Beacon House, said The Day Tajon Got Shot was written during a critical period of growth for the authors.
What’s most impressive about the novel? “The way they talk about experiences and are able to think critically about different social issues, and express thoughts and ideas about what their role could be in the world — especially during the time of their lives when they started writing,” Schmutz said.
Crutcher said she is not surprised by the attention the book has received. “I knew that it was a hot-button issue and we needed to be thoughtful about how they approached it,” Crutcher said. “That is what led to the conversation on how each of the characters in the novel will be honorable in some way.”
Ward 5 Council member Kenyan McDuffie told The DC Line that the book stood out to him because of the incredible talent of the authors. He initiated the ceremonial resolution in December as way to honor their hard work, he said.
“I wanted the opportunity to lift up their voices,” McDuffie said. “It’s really important that young women in these communities — particularly ones impacted by violence — see themselves reflected in literature.”
Both Whipple and Calloway said they might like to write another novel some day, but they’re proud that this book forces students and teachers to have honest conversations about police brutality and the effects of violence in communities.
“It’s important for people to understand that even though we are kids we know what’s going on, we acknowledge it and we have things to say about it,” Calloway said.
The Day Tajon Got Shot is available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon. It’s also sold through the Shout Mouse website for $14.99.
This post has updated to correct the spelling of Ward 5 DC Council member Kenyan McDuffie’s name.
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