We hear their names and see their photos plastered on the evening news. Brian Buckmire, ABC News Legal analyst and author, explores the world of black families and the conversations they have to try and keep their children safe. In Come Home Safe, a fictional brother and sister pair experience the injustice of being falsely accused, and the techniques they follow in an attempt to protect themselves from violence at the hands of law enforcement. While the book itself is fiction, it is based on real life events that are experienced far too often.
It can be one thing to hear the names and read about the cases, but it’s a whole other world when you are living it. We see Reed, a young man, get thrown onto a subway platform after he is mistaken for a group of fare jumpers. We see Olive, a young woman be accused of stealing a woman’s phone, when she mistakenly leaves it in a taxi. The heartbreaking, and informative, part of this book is the conversations and techniques that Buckmire discusses in this book. If you haven’t experienced it firsthand, it can be shocking to realize your friends have to sit down and talk about when it is okay to film the police, when to stand up for yourself, when you have to listen and obey, all to come home safe.
Come Home Safe may be written for a YA audience, but it is an important book that should be read by everyone.
Come Home Safe by Brian Buckmire is now available.
