Graphic Novel review: I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina, illustrated by Stacey Robinson and John Jennings

I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina, illustrated by Stacey Robinson and John Jennings

This powerful graphic novel takes readers on a first-person view of the shooting of a 15 year old black teen named Alfonso Jones and the start of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Alfonso Jones was a young black man in Harlem who played the trumpet, rode his bike, and who had just auditioned for a role in his school’s hip-hop version of Hamlet. Alfonso’s father was arrested for the rape and murder of a woman just before Alfonso’s mother went into labor. Then, when Alfonso was 15, DNA evidence exonerated his father.

Alfonso was so excited that his father was coming home that Alfonso and his would-be girlfriend Donetta went to mid-town Manhattan to buy a suit for his father’s release party. Alfonso had his own money he’d worked to save up, and was going to spend it on the first suit he’d ever owned.

But an off-duty white cop mistook the coat hanger in Alfonso’s hand for a gun, and shot Alfonso to death.

The story is told by Alfonso even after his death, as he enters the realm of ghosts and, similar to a Charles Dickens character touring with the ghosts of shootings past, visits the scenes of many other instances where white officers shot and killed unarmed black people. The reader comes away with a basic understanding of the systemic racism that underlies the frustration of many people with both the police and justice system in America.

As a result of Alfonso’s death, a movement begins: the black lives matter movement, demanding justice for the deaths of unarmed blacks and police brutality.

Author Tony Medina’s story tackles an important and timely topic in a brutally honest way, and Stacey Robinson and John Jennings’ illustrations bring life to the characters, including the politicians and police officers.

I Am Alfonso Jones is a must-own for all high school libraries, and a highly recommended read. Students can easily read the entire novel within a couple hours. Pair this with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ short but incredibly powerful Between The World And Me for additional reading on the same subject.