Coates compares
Dr. Jones’ disposition to that of Civil Rights protestors depicted in photographs—both display a kind of “armor” that appears like a lack of emotion. Coates is struck by the intensity of Dr. Jones’ control over herself. When
Prince died, she didn’t cry, because “composure was too important.” However, she tells Coates that she experienced intense physical pain and that all she felt able to do was pray. She admits that she expected Prince’s killer to be charged, and compares Prince’s fate to that of Solomon Northup, the free black man who was abducted and sold into slavery, and who chronicled this experience in
12 Years a Slave. Dr. Jones points out that all the materials and signifiers of social status that Prince enjoyed throughout his life were not enough to protect him from a violent death.