“Jack Franklin. Keeping the peace. We were just talking about it, on my porch. About how everything on the street is going to shit because good citizens are too afraid to stand up.”

Tom Arlen’s assessment of the situation shows how skewed the various accounts of the shooting of Tariq are. To Tom, Jack is a stand-up citizen doing his civic duty in accosting Tariq. To Tom, Jack is the victim.

“Tariq forgot his change, is all. I stepped out in the street to try and help him. I meant to do the right thing, get the kid his money back.”

Edwin “Rocky” Fry admits that Tariq didn’t steal anything; rather, Tariq simply forgot his change and Rocky was trying to flag him down. In this way, Tariq’s death began with a huge misunderstanding as Brian Trellis thought Tariq robbed Rocky and tried to detain him until the cops arrived.

“Forgive me for the morning cynicism, Lord, but black kids get shot all the time, and no one looks twice.” 

Reverend Sloan is hesitant to get involved in the commotion surrounding Tariq’s death because, unfortunately, events like shootings happen all the time and the nation doesn’t seem to bat an eye. Sloan does get involved in order to boost his own poll numbers.