The deadly consequences of racist attitudes

The deadly consequences of racist attitudes are explored extensively through two stories, “The Finkelstein 5” and “Zimmer Land,” both of which refer to violent actions against young people of color. In these stories, racist attitudes result in white individuals making assumptions about these young people based on the color of their skin, presuming that they are gang members or simply up to no good. The white individuals have no evidence to support their attitudes.

In “The Finkelstein 5,” the assumptions of a white man named George Wilson Dunn cause him to murder 4 teenagers and one child with a chainsaw outside of a public library. The chainsaw is a device of hyperbole. Had this been a story about a man shooting kids he believed were threatening him, it would not have the same visceral effect on the reader as the gory carnage of the...