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Melo Taylor
Shemar Carson is a seventeen-year-old black boy from Nevada who is shot and killed by a white police officer. This takes place shortly before the beginning of the novel, but the story of Shemar’s death sustains itself throughout the narrative, as Justyce considers how easily he could have wound up like Shemar during his interaction with Officer Castillo. Like Justyce, Shemar was unarmed during his altercation with the police, though the officer who murdered him claims he was reaching for his gun. Despite the fact that there’s no evidence to prove this, the courts fail to indict the officer. The similarities between Shemar’s story and his own weigh on Justyce, causing him to rethink the way people see him. Before his encounter with Officer Castillo, he assumed that what happened to Shemar would never happen to him because, unlike Shemar, he doesn’t have a “thuggish appearance.” Now, though, he sees that the color of his skin is enough to put him in grave danger when dealing with police officers.
Shemar Carson Quotes in Dear Martin
The Dear Martin quotes below are all either spoken by Shemar Carson or refer to Shemar Carson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
August 25
Quotes
I dunno. I’ve seen some pictures of Shemar Carson, and he did have kind of a thuggish appearance. In a way, I guess I thought I didn’t really need to concern myself with this type of thing because compared to him, I don’t come across as “threatening,” you know? I don’t sag my pants or wear my clothes super big. I go to a good school, and have goals and vision and “a great head on my shoulders,” as Mama likes to say.
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Chapter 3
Quotes
SJ: My point is I’ve seen you commit the same crime Shemar Carson had on the “criminal record’’ you mentioned.
Jared: Whatever, SJ.
SJ: I know you’d prefer to ignore this stuff because you benefit from it, but walking around pretending inequality doesn’t exist won’t make it disappear, Jared. You and Manny, who are equal in pretty much every way apart from race, could commit the same crime, but it’s almost guaranteed that he would receive a harsher punishment than you.
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Get the entire Dear Martin LitChart as a printable PDF.
Shemar Carson Quotes in Dear Martin
The Dear Martin quotes below are all either spoken by Shemar Carson or refer to Shemar Carson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
August 25
Quotes
I dunno. I’ve seen some pictures of Shemar Carson, and he did have kind of a thuggish appearance. In a way, I guess I thought I didn’t really need to concern myself with this type of thing because compared to him, I don’t come across as “threatening,” you know? I don’t sag my pants or wear my clothes super big. I go to a good school, and have goals and vision and “a great head on my shoulders,” as Mama likes to say.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3
Quotes
SJ: My point is I’ve seen you commit the same crime Shemar Carson had on the “criminal record’’ you mentioned.
Jared: Whatever, SJ.
SJ: I know you’d prefer to ignore this stuff because you benefit from it, but walking around pretending inequality doesn’t exist won’t make it disappear, Jared. You and Manny, who are equal in pretty much every way apart from race, could commit the same crime, but it’s almost guaranteed that he would receive a harsher punishment than you.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
