#imagine being the only hispanic kid in your graduating class

[zip-toonz]

OMG THERES A FUCKING HONDURAN FLAG EMOJI 🇭🇳 !!!!!

[little-droid]

LittleDroid's Long Overdue Animorphs Re-Read: Book 1 – The Invasion - Part 1

My name is Jake. That's my first name, obviously. I can't tell you my last name. It would be too dangerous. The Controllers are everywhere. Everywhere. And if they knew my full name, they could find me and my friends, and then . . . well, let's just say I don't want them to find me. What they do to people who resist them is too horrible to think about.

If there's one thing that sticks in my mind about the Animorphs books, it's this framing device. Each book is written in the first person, from the point of view of one of the main characters telling us how they can't give away too many details, in case the bad guys find them. Each one opens with one character giving their name and telling you it's far too dangerous to give you any more identifying information. As a kid reading these, it was compelling. A little part of me always wondered if the stories were true, and the books were a convenient ploy on behalf of the Animorphs to get the word out.

Jake tells us he can't reveal who he is, or where he lives, and that his life was normal up to one Friday night at the mall.

The book introduces the main cast quickly, and doesn't waste any time toying around establishing their characters. Everyone jumps off the pages right from the get go. There's Marco, Jake's cynical and sarcastic best friend who thinks he's suaver than he really is. There's Tobias, a bit of a dreamer who gets bullied at school for being weird and having a rough home life. There's Rachel, Jake's cousin, who's fashionable, tough and an amateur gymnast. There's Cassie, who's quiet, earthy and an animal lover (and who Jake has a crush on that he refuses to do anything about!).

We don't get a huge sense of who Jake is as a person just yet. Part of that is these books are short and this one has a lot of introductory material to cover. Part of it is Jake falls into the standard 'everyman' character trope. He's serious, dependable, and we find out he recently didn't make the basketball team. Aww.

Before we get into the story properly, I want to say I'm impressed with the cast diversity in this series. Cassie is black. Marco is Hispanic. We find out later that Jake is Jewish. And while there's no explicitly queer characters on paper (there are two characters later who are confirmed by Word of God to be in a queer relationship), I imagine this has more to do with the limitations of children's publishing in the late nineties rather than a lack of intent on the part of the authors.

Especially in a sci-fi series, it's too easy to fall into the trope of space adventures being a thing for cishet white boys. Kudos to Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant for writing something a wide range of kids could recognise themselves in.

Our characters decide to walk home together from the mall and take a short cut through an abandoned construction site they've all been told they're not allowed inside. They banter back and forth, Rachel teasing Jake for implying the girls need looking after on the way home, Cassie smoothing things over. Tobias spots a brilliant light shooting across the sky.

I looked at Tobias and he looked back at me. We both knew what we thought it was, but we didn't want to say it. Marco and Rachel would have laughed, we figured.

But Cassie just blurted it right out. "It's a flying saucer!"

The kids stand stunned. They nervously debate just what the hell is going on and whether they should run before they find up, right up until the ship lands ten feet away from them. The ship is described as "about three or four times as big as our minivan" and has structural damage as if it's been in a fight.

It's Tobias who attempts to communicate first, and everyone receives a response they can only hear in their minds.

Tobias tried again. "Please, come out. We won't hurt you."

‹I know.›

Telepathic aliens? Nine year old me thought this was amazing. Heck, thirty year old me still thinks this is amazing. I blame nostalgia.

The spacecraft opens and we get our first glimpse of an Andalite. These are our 'good guy' aliens, and look like a blue and tan deer centaur with a scythe bladed scorpion tail, no mouth and an extra set of eyes on stalks on top of their heads. Five stars for quality alien design. No Star Trek style rubber foreheads here.

This did also contribute to the nightmare of costume design that was the not-anywhere-near-stellar Nickelodeon adaptation, but we don't talk about that.

The next section is fairly exposition heavy, which is to be expected. This is the introductory book in a long series. There's a lot of groundwork to lay before the real meat of the plot gets going.

The Andalite is dying, and explains that he's here because Earth is in the midst of a covert invasion by a parasitic race called the Yeerks. Grey slug aliens that crawl into the heads of other sapient creatures and take over control of their brains. Evil space cordyceps. The Andalites have been fighting back against them and their takeover, but they were massively outgunned and lost the battle in orbit. They were able to get a message back to their home planet for reinforcements, but those could take over a year to arrive.

Without anyone else to turn to, the Andalite asks Jake to retrieve a blue box from his ship. Jake also finds a little holographic picture of the Andalite's family in his ship and contemplates how sad it is he's dying so far from home, which upset nine year old me greatly.

The Andalite offers to give the kids a piece of technology to help them hold out against the Yeerk invasion until help arrives: the power to physically transform into any animal they can touch.

No one is thrilled about this. Marco points out “this whole thing is nuts”, which becomes a bit of a catchphrase for him over the rest of the series. He's who you count on to point out when things are getting ridiculous. It's Cassie who agrees first, but before the others can get on board, Yeerk ships appear overhead.

Out of time, they each touch one side of the blue box.

‹Go now,› the Andalite said. ‹Only remember this - never remain in animal form for more than two of your Earth hours. Never! That is the greatest danger of the morphing! If you stay longer than two hours you will be trapped, unable to return to human form.›

Aside from the antagonists, the two hour time limit becomes one of the main sources of tension in the series. Having a countdown on being forced to morph back to human complicates their missions and adds a layer of logistics that ramps up the tension in almost every book to come.

Speaking of antagonists, it's at this point we're introduced to our main villain: Visser Three. The only Andalite to ever be taken over by a Yeerk, and the only enemy also capable of morphing.

I would like to go on record here to say I adore Visser Three. He's a first class graduate of the Disney school of maniacal villainy, with honours in pompousness and chewing the scenery. He's the epitome of petty, vicious egomaniacs. He's Darth Vader on deer legs.

Enemy ships descend. The kids flee and hide. Tobias lingers for a moment beside the dying Andalite before being sent running. The rest of the plot exposition happens while the kids are crouched behind a half-built wall, praying they don't breath loud enough to get caught.

Visser Three disembarks from his Blade ship along with his hordes of underlings. We're introduced to two more alien species, both controlled by the Yeerks. Hork-Bajir: huge bipedal raptor-esque creatures covered in blades from top to toe. And Taxxons: ten foot long centipedes with jelly-like, red eyes, and a voracious appetite for any living thing they can devour.

From the get go, you get the sense this isn't ever going to be a series where the odds are on our protagonists' side. The Yeerk forces are overwhelming and relentless. No-one is considering making a dashing stand against evil and hoping good will save the day. The kids are terrified. It's all they can do to stay hidden and hope they'll get out alive.

Visser Three gloats over the fallen Andalite, taunting him about how his ship has been completely destroyed and no-one else is left. We learn the good Andalite's name, Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, and that he's a Prince, some kind of military hero. He doesn't rise to Visser Three's taunting, and we're treated to the first of the Visser's many classic villain speeches.

‹What do you want with these Humans?› the Andalite asked. ‹You have your Taxxon allies. You have your Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves from other worlds. Why these people?›

‹Because there are so many, and they are so weak,› Visser Three sneered. ‹Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable! Billions of us. We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite, you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost.›

Elfangor's response to this is to whack Visser Three with his tail blade and gouge a chunk out of his shoulder, and honestly? Good for him. Unfortunately Visser Three retaliates by having his ship disintegrate Elfangor's space pod, morphs into a monster that can only be described as a gargantuan mouth on tree trunk legs and eats Elfangor alive.

Yep, you read that right. See, up until this point, nine year old me was still convinced they were somehow going to save the alien and have an alien friend to go with them on space adventures. That's how adventure books work, right? Nine year old me quickly had to learn this series wasn't going to pull its punches. At all. Nine year old me had some growing up to do.

Nerves get the better of Marco after listening to psychic screams of an alien he just met being chewed into kibble, and he throws up, inadvertently giving away their hiding spot. Cue searchlights and armed soldiers. The kids run, splitting up to scrape a marginally better change of some of them getting away. Jake stumbles into an empty building and only manages to escape by literally tripping over a homeless man who the Yeerks murder in his stead. It's not explicit in the text, and Jake hopes the man gets away, but the Yeerks are bringing the heads back for identification. I think it's safe to say that guy is dead.

Jake keeps running and doesn't look back.

[readthis-lebronjames-blog]

Educate the People

Mr. LeBron James,

As a Criminal Justice major I have classes that show me how dangerous being a colored person in America really is, and as a Mexican-American in a Trump Presidency I fear the actions that will be taken upon me sub-consciously or consciously and my family for not being the right color. Recently In one of my classes my teacher showed the whole class the video of the Philando Castile shooting. As I am sure you are sadly aware, Philando Castile had a gun and a license to carry. The conundrum occurred when Philando Castile declared to the officer that he did have a firearm on him. The police officer told Philando to not pull out the gun, Philando Castile told him he was not pulling it out, he was pulling out his ID to show the officer but because there was a misunderstanding the police officer panicked and shot Philando 7 times. Philando was just following orders, he was getting his license to show the officer but at the end of this interaction the police officer shot Philando Castile, in front of his daughter and girlfriend.

As civilians we don’t know the inner workings of police, we don’t know how to communicate with them correctly and because of this we usually end up in handcuffs or dead, especially if we’re black, Hispanic or Muslim. As minorities we aren’t as privileged as white Americans, we sometimes aren’t as well educated about our rights, and the way to we communicate with police, is more difficult because we fear what they might do to us. If you Lebron James are even reading this you might be wondering why I am writing to you, I am writing to you because I believe with your position and star power you could educate kids in your school and all over about their rights and proper communication with police.

           You would think as a Mexican-American Criminal Justice Major at San Diego State University, I would be well educated about law but as a brown man I still fear the police, the people who have authority and even people like Permit Patty who doesn't even have legal authority but thinks she has moral authority. I know my rights but that still doesn’t stop all the fear that comes with interacting with police. One wrong move towards the police or ICE and I may end up in a body bag or deported to Mexico even though I am a citizen. I believe that because I am lucky enough to be educated about criminal justice, this education makes me safer than the average person. I can easier navigate a police encounter. That’s why I want kids who are more likely to be stopped by police, kids of color, kids living in poverty, at risk youths to be taught about law and proper communication with police because the officers are trained but we are not, we need all the help we can get to survive a police encounter. I want to live in a world where senseless, avoidable deaths like Michael Brown and Eric Garner are rare or don’t happen at all, I honestly don’t want to fear for my safety in this place I call home.

           I value education and the power it can give me. The only reason I am in University right now is because I’m in this federal program called FAFSA, it pays for my tuition and gives me money on the side for books and other things I might need for school. This program helps me so much that I don’t know what I would’ve done without FAFSA, because if my parents or I had to pay for the tuition, it would’ve have destroyed us, and I wouldn’t have allowed that to happen to my family and I would for sure have not gone to university. The school that you opened is a ray of hope for kids that want change in their life, kids who want a better education, kids who want to reach their dreams. You are a hero because of this opportunity that you are given to them, and you are someone the school system should learn from, help at risk youths pursue knowledge to better themselves, and help the people around them.

           In your school there could be classes, programs, seminars, lectures whatever is best to teach children, at an early age how to interact with police. They should be taught that their actions are important and the way they talk must be clear to communicate correctly. Even if there was nothing done wrong one must be prepared to talk in a professional matter because talking o police are sometimes a life and death matter. In this world we must be knowledgeable because if we are not we get taken advantage of, especially us minorities. In this Trump presidency we must adapt and learn so that we don’t become another statistic. I believe that the best way for kids of color to be safe during police encounters is to be educated. They should know their rights and what to do when stopped by police because the police are trained but we are not. We get scared, we freeze, we say stuff that ends up hurting us in the long run. If there where classes in school, that taught us what to do in those situations we would be much safer.

I’m writing to you because recently you opened a school in your hometown Akron, Ohio for at risk youths. I also know that you care for kids even supporting organizations like Children's Defense Fund, After-School All-Stars and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. I believe that you as a Black American knows it s hard being a minority in America and these programs that teach kids about their rights, and proper way to communicate with police is something that can help us. As a black father you may have already talked to your oldest sons how to talk to police officers. With your power and influence theses lessons can be taught to the less-educated, the non-privileged, the ones who really need this to survive in their neighborhood. Imagine well educated black, brown boys or men, talking their way out of a police encounter because they knew their rights and how to properly communicate with police.

           I know teaching kids is difficult, especially the less fortunate. Sometimes there’re problems in kids’ personal lives that we don’t see that can impact their education. This also impacts how they interact with police because education and crime are connected. The more educated one is the less likely they will resort to crime. As a donor of a school and because you are one of the biggest names out in the world, in media, in sports, you have a voice louder than others. People of all races, backgrounds, religion, look up to you as a grandiose figure, you’re in concerts dancing with Drake, making headlines switching from the Cavaliers to the Lakers, you are a household name in America. If you support this idea and/or implement this in your school, it can start a massive wave in the U.S. With any action you take, we can reach the ears of a bigger audience and get more people involved to make this happen. The movement has already started and recently there had been a law in Texas that requires ‘police interaction’ curriculum for all Texas high school students and it must be completed before they can graduate. Texas police hopes to foster a positive relationship between law enforcement and students across the state of Texas. I hope that you may see this as a pilot program and see that there are actions that can be executed by both school and law enforcement. Educating the ones that need to be educated can keep kids who are less fortunate out of jail when interacting with the police.

           Should you consider implementing programs/classes where kids are taught about the law, their rights and proper communication with police into your school or even start a dialogue we might see in the future less and less people of color getting shot by police. I hope that this idea helps people that really need this education to survive. I believe that as minorities living in modern American we need to be educated to stay alive, out of prison, and help keep our family safe because the ore we know, the more we are protected from misunderstandings.

Sincerely,

Carlos Flores