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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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Explanation and Analysis:
Justyce writes these words in his epistolary diary entry to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In this entry, he considers the tragic death of Shemar Carson, a black teenager from Nevada who was shot and killed by a white police officer even though he was unarmed. Justyce knows that Carson didn’t deserve what happened to him, and recognizes that the boy’s death was the result of racism. At the same time, though, Justyce has never considered the fact that a similar thing could ever happen to him, even though he too is a young black man and, as such, the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Q
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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In this passage, SJ and Jared continue their argument about racial inequality. Jared has just suggested that Shemar Carson—an unarmed black boy who was recently shot and killed by a white police officer—was a “criminal,” ultimately trying to prove that he was a threat to the officer who murdered him. In response, SJ points out that the only offense on Carson’s criminal record is for marijuana possession—and she recently saw Jared buy an ounce of marijuana. “Whatever, SJ,” Jared says, eager to dismiss the fact that both he and Shemar Carson have the same “criminal record” (although Jared wasn’t arrested Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia solu
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Shemar Carson Character Timeline in Dear Martin
The timeline below shows where the character Shemar Carson appears in Dear Martin. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
August 25
...Luther King, Jr. about a recent incident in Nevada involving an unarmed black teenager named Shemar Carson. “The details are hazy,” he admits, “since there weren’t any witnesses.” That said, Justyce...
(full context)
Justyce mentions in his diary that he has seen pictures of Shemar Carson. He admits that he never thought he himself would have to worry about police...
(full context)
Chapter 3
...room, since a grand jury in Nevada failed to indict the police officer who murdered Shemar Carson. In addition, he discovered yesterday that the police officer that Manny’s cousin killed was...
(full context)
...Jared replies, to which SJ says, “Do you watch the news at all? The name Shemar Carson ring a bell, maybe?” In turn, Jared says that “not every white person who...
(full context)
When SJ refutes the idea that the courts “proved” the officer who killed Shemar isn’t guilty of a crime, Jared says, “Dude, the kid attacked the cop and tried...
(full context)
September 18
...why he’s there. When he struggles to answer, she guesses that he’s upset about the Shemar Carson case. Admitting that this is true, he says it feels like everything he’s doing...
(full context)
January 19
...he recently saw a white man on television arguing that cases like Tavarrius Jenkins’s and Shemar Carson’s “deflect from the issue of black-on-black crime.” “How are black people supposed to know...
(full context)
Tison Indictment Step Forward for Justice or Grand Jury Blunder?
...two teenaged boys.” The writer notes that this indictment serves as a “glaring contrast” to Shemar Carson’s and Tavarrius Jenkins’s cases. “Two of the charges—aggravated assault and felony murder—have many members...
(full context)
Chapter 18
...of the argument between them and Officer Tison. However, Justyce also knows from observing the Shemar Carson and Travarrius Jenkins court cases that “it really doesn’t take more than a photo...
(full context)
