Joseph Roeske

College Writing R1A

Don’t Ignore the Past

Dashka Slater’s The 57 Bus depicts the true story of two teenagers, Sasha and Richard,
whose paths cross for merely eight minutes each day on their commute across Oakland,
California. The book describes a terrible incident where Richard burns Sasha’s skirt while
sleeping, leaving Sasha severely injured and him facing the possibility of life imprisonment -
an incident that changes their lives forever. Slater unravels the complexity of the characters
and their lives through examining details of their backgrounds, lifestyles and aspirations,
while highlighting themes of racism, discrimination, violence and friendship. In addition,
Slater points out flaws in the criminal justice system and raises awareness of the
discrimination experienced by the LGBTQ community. The reader empathises with the
characters’ situation by understanding the teenagers’ lives prior to the incident. The vast
differences between the two characters are demonstrated through Slater’s descriptions of
their personalities, home environments and upbringing.

At the start of the book, Slater describes the very different environments in which
Sasha and Richard grew up. Oakland is known to have the largest proportion of lesbian
couples per capita in America and one of the highest rates of violent crime
(https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/oakland/crime). It is also a city that encourages
open-mindedness and provides a level of comfort for genderqueer people like Sasha; the
divide between social classes and the stark difference in income , however, encourage hate
crime and discrimination. Richard lives in East Oakland where ‘the bulk of the city’s murders
happen’ (p.7) and ‘the schools are shabbier’. The reader empathises with Richard and tries to
understand the devastating environment in which he grew up; Cherie’s statement that ‘Every
year we lose somebody,’ … I am scared for myself…. That’s why I don’t go outside’ reinforces
the challenges Richard and the community face daily to avoid crime and violence. The stark
contrast with Sasha’s home in the ‘middle-class foothills’ (p.7) begs the question as to
whether a life of crime is inevitable for Richard. Do his circumstances excuse his aggressive
actions such as getting arrested for fighting and his general ‘hyphy’, immature attitude?

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The distinction between the two characters’ upbringing allows the reader to
empathise with each of them further. Sasha’s parents acknowledge them being genderqueer
but do not really understand the meaning of someone identifying themselves as anything
other than male or female. The reader may empathise with Sasha, observing not only that
they are still uneasy with revealing their identity in public, but also that there is a lack of
comfort for Sasha in discussing it at home with their family. This is evident when Sasha
examines the difference between the categories ‘sexuality’ and ‘romance’ (p.32) and how
they will stop their mother from focusing only on ‘the sex part’ and believing that their
identity is a biological matter.

Richard’s family, on the other hand, is very different from Sasha’s which could be
interpreted as a reason for his immature attitude and misbehaviour. Richard was raised by
his young mother who split from his father as a result of his many drug-related problems and
the time he served in prison. Additionally, Richard’s two aunts were murdered, leaving his
cousins with no option but to move in with him and his mother. Here, the reader sympathises
with Richard as he goes ‘from being the center of his mother’s world to just one more
traumatized member of a family with a gaping hole in it’ (p.78). It is understandable that being
neglected at home may have forced him to spend more time outdoors in his rough
neighbourhood mixing with the wrong crowd and clouding his judgment. Thus, Slater aims to
have the reader reflect on Richard’s abysmal circumstances and to be less judgmental of his
actions.

A major part of any teenager’s life revolves around the people they surround
themselves with. Slater discusses the role friends play in both Richard’s and Sasha’s lives and
how they affect their actions. Sasha enjoys the comfort of her close friends like Andrew and
Nemo who share their interests, understand their struggles and relate to their lifestyle. All of
Sasha’s friends look up to them as they are the ‘brilliant one’ (p.18) who is extremely bright
and aspirational. Sasha is very comforting towards their friends like Samantha who they tell
‘you’re the only one who knows what you feel’ (p.26). Samantha responds by describing Sasha
as one of the ‘smartest people I’ve ever met’ (p.26). Moreover, Sasha is seen as a strong
independent person who does not need attention from others and is not influenced by
others’ actions: They ‘didn’t seem to need other people much’ but rather are fascinated by

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‘the world inside their head’ (p.21). The reader empathises with Sasha as they clearly have
such a positive influence on their close friends as well as a strong personality; yet society fails
to recognise this in Sasha and instead belittles and discriminates against them because of how
they identify themselves.

By contrast, Richard spends the majority of his time around his friends seeking their
attention by being ‘foolish’ and ‘obnoxious’ (p.84). With Cherie and Skeet, he would ‘cut
school on the daily’ (p.83) to go ‘flirt’, ‘play dice’ and ‘fight’. Together they formed the
‘Heartbreak Kids’ who would misbehave, with Richard always doing ‘the craziest stuff (p.84).
The reader feels sorry for Richard and acknowledges that he is a teenager with good
intentions and ‘not a bad kid’ (p. 67). When Richard is arrested for his attack on Sasha, Cherie
states that ‘we were just young’ (p.87), adding to the element of innocence. Despite his young
age, Richard is tried and convicted as an adult. Portraying Richard in this light, allows Slater
to critique the US criminal justice system and to demonstrate to the reader that his crimes
stem from adolescence and ignorance rather than criminal intent.

Slater also uses poetry to create empathy towards Richard when writing about his
‘trust issues’ (p.100). In the poem, the question of ‘who can you trust?’ makes the reader
realise that Richard is rather lonely. ‘I don’t have any friends…I have associates’ (P.100) he
says as Slater ends the chapter. The reader recognises that Richard is never entirely
comfortable with his surroundings or the people he spends the majority of his time with.

Slater dedicates a large part of the book to depict the characters’ personalities,
helping the reader to form a concrete understanding of their actions and decisions. Both
Sasha and Richard are similar in so far as they have positive aspirations, proving their mental
strength. Richard, despite his troubled background, understands the importance of education
and joining the workforce. He can be a hard worker and is well organised when joining the
Unity Council as an intern. ‘He took care with his work, doing things right the first time and
stepping in to fix mistakes’ (p. 96), a promising sign of his good intentions, reinforced by his
boss who comments that Richard ‘has the potential to achieve anything he wants’ (p.96). He
also proves his positive mindset by seeking counselling to improve his attitude. Counsellor
Kaprice says he is ‘not a bad kid’ (p.67) and that he has good intentions but doesn’t

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understand how to avoid ‘trouble’. The reader is left to admire Richard for his willingness to
better himself and avoid repeating his mistakes.

This contrasts with Sasha’s mental strength, a quality that is noticeable from the
outset. Although they struggle with their identity at first, they remain determined to stay true
to who they are. This is seen when Sasha refuses to use the male and female bathrooms as
they do not conform with their identity: ‘One clipboard was marked girls. The other was
marked boys. ‘What about the kids who aren’t either one?’ Sasha asked.’ (p.50) Slater’s
message is to show how such kids have a ‘newfound willingness to speak up, to stand out, to
be seen’ (p.41), inspiring them to remain true to themselves and stand up for what they
believe in rather than conform to uncomfortable alternatives. Sasha takes this a step further
by aiming to spread the idea of gender fluidity to society and truly ‘speak up’. This is seen in
their announcements at the all-school meeting in Maybeck where they voice the truth about
being ‘agender’ with ‘preferred pronouns’ (p.48) as part of the ‘We The People Petition’ –
ultimately giving a voice to those who have suffered in society or are scared to unveil their
identity. Sasha’s strength in pursuing such a challenging task only to later suffer from a
devastating incident on the bus, forces the reader to reflect on the injustices they endure.
Why should someone so strong suffer so terribly?

Slater’s book fully reveals the mystery, chaos and hardship in both Sasha and Richard’s
lives, allowing the reader to judge for themselves whether or not the outcome is avoidable or
inevitable. By giving the reader reasons to empathise with Richard, Slater exposes some of
the shortcomings of the juvenile justice system in the United States which is fraught with bias
and disregard for the human condition. Richard’s harsh sentencing for his crime raises the
question of whether a juvenile, who is generally well-intentioned, should suffer such long
term, life-changing consequences as the result of a single immature act. Similarly, Sasha’s
experiences with her family and society at large raise the thorny issue of gender conditioning
and identity. Slater’s beautifully articulated writing effectively allows the reader to fully
empathise with both characters and to weigh up whether the individual or society is to blame
for the challenges they face. We are left feeling that neither Richard nor Sasha should have
ever had to experience what they did.

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References

Kohl, H. (2007). She would not be moved: How we tell the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery
bus boycott. New York: New Press.

Slater, D. (2018). The 57 Bus: A true story of two teenagers and the crime that changed their lives.
Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company.