All American Boys

Quinn arrives at school to find everyone discussing Rashad. Quinn has received texts from Dwyer and other boys on the basketball team, but doesn’t check them and instead turns his phone on mute. He refuses to watch the video of Rashad’s arrest. As Quinn is walking up the stairs, the team’s point guard, Nam, catches up to him and immediately starts talking about Rashad. He asks why Paul did what he did, and Quinn replies that he was “just doing his job,” before admitting that he hasn’t watched the video. In class, Quinn feels like everyone is looking at him, and it suddenly occurs to him that he might appear in the video.

At lunch, Jill asks to sit with Quinn. Jill asks if Quinn has seen Guzzo; although he doesn’t tell Jill this, Quinn has been avoiding him. Jill says that Mrs. Galluzzo’s defense of Paul “bugged the hell out of me.” Jill tells Quinn he should watch the video, but he responds that he was there and doesn’t need to see it again.

Suddenly, Quinn remembers a time when, years ago, Paul had “kicked the shit out of” a kid called Marc Blair. However, that time Paul had done it on Quinn’s behalf. Quinn and Jill reflect that they have always thought of Paul as a “good guy,” and it’s therefore difficult to understand how this could have happened. Quinn asks if he can be seen in the video, and Jill chastises him for being self-centered. At the end of lunch, Quinn confesses that he feels Jill is the only person he can talk to about Rashad, and they briefly hold hands.

After lunch, Quinn thinks about when Paul beat up Marc. Marc was an older kid who bullied Quinn; he once pressed Quinn’s face against a chain-link fence until he vomited. Suddenly, another memory occurs to Quinn, of a time when he saw an older black student wearing a Public Enemy t-shirt that read “Fear of a Black Planet.” He reflects on his own subconscious fears about black people. After Paul beat up Marc, he called him a “thug.” Quinn feels guilty about the role he played in this incident.

In Quinn’s next class, Ms. Webber announces that there has been a change of plan for that day’s lesson: they will work “quietly” on a practice test. During class, a white girl called Molly asks a black guy called EJ a question, and Ms. Webber scolds EJ. EJ responds: “Guilty until proven innocent… just like Rashad.” Ms. Webber, flustered, says she knows there’s “a student” in hospital but that they have to focus on the test. Molly responds by saying Rashad’s name. EJ joins in. Ms. Webber sends them both out, but Quinn can hear them shouting “Rashad, Rashad” out in the hallway.

Someone else in class says “Paul Galluzzo.” Quinn is angry; he thinks that talking about Rashad’s arrest just makes it worse. At basketball practice, Quinn feels disproportionately aware of Shannon and English, because he knows they are close friends of Rashad. Coach Carney gives a speech about not getting too distracted by the scouts. He tells the team to leave all their other thoughts and problems at the door. Quinn wishes this were possible, and decides to try and follow Coach’s advice. He wants to forget about race and act as one “color-blind,” unified team. At the same time, he can’t help but feel that he is implicated in the “problem” of what happened to Rashad.