I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina is a beautifully illustrated, moving story about an Afro Puerto Rican teen who gets killed by an off-duty police officer in Harlem. IAAJ an is award winning graphic novel for young readers. It has won critical acclaim and has received awards including The American Library Association’s Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, The New York Public Library’s Best Books for Teens, The Latinidad List of Best Books and Forbes’ Ten Best Graphic Novels. The book has received well deserved praise from poet, luminary and national icon, Nikki Giovanni.
“We are so fortunate that Tony Medina and his generation, have taken on their shoulders the classic responsibilities of telling stories that embrace the hearts and souls of not only individuals but the neighborhoods. A comic book is no longer something to laugh with but something to learn from, I Am Alfonso Jones is incredibly enlightening.” — Nikki Giovanni
If you do not know of Nikki Giovanni and her foundational role in the Black Arts movement in the late 1960s and 70s, or her famous poem Ego Tripping or her work as an award-winning poet and activist, you may recall her speaking out on gun control. The distinguished professor stated, “Guns are an idea whose time has passed,” after her experience in the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech. It is a strange irony that a graphic novel by an author she deeply admires, is banned in several parts of the country.
According to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), graphic novels are being targeted and are in a vulnerable position. These critical texts may be easier to target because pictures can be taken out of context or misconstrued. Graphic novels banned over the last nine months in Texas, included the adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank, the graphic novel Lighter than My Shadow, a book about a young girl with an eating disorder and many others, including IAAJ. Medina’s graphic novel also appears on a list published by Book Riot of the most banned graphic novels since 2000.
It’s also banned in Vero Beach, Florida. The Indian River County School District banned the book in libraries and classrooms, along with Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and countless others, in November 2021, according to PEN America. How ironic that a short distance away from the Indian River County School District, is the Indian River County Public Shooting Range. It’s a relief to know that all junior shooters, ages 10 — 17 must be accompanied by a paying adult and no children under the age of 10 are allowed! If you read the Rules governing the shooting range, note in Rule #5 that shooters “may handle firearms, go downrange to work with their targets or begin firing only at the command of the range officers.” I find it so odd that the rules of a public shooting range are normalized in a culture where books about a teen being shot are banned. And why is it that the same states that lead the way in banning books, also seem to be the ones promoting shooting as sport? Hee haw! Beats me.
Not to go off topic, here. Just sayin.
After learning that IAAJ was banned, I began looking up banned books. There are so many. It’s as mind boggling, as it is depressing. Many are written by Black and LGBTQIA+ writers for young readers, to help make very painful stories visible and heard. These books are also intended to create empathy. We cannot begin to estimate the harm of restricting this literature, especially for young people of color and queer youth. But the harm doesn’t stop there. Privileged white youth need to read these books, as well.
It’s hard to fully take in that we live in a society where reactionary forces seek to restrict books that are about race, racism, police violence, colorism, identity, sexuality, sexism, eating disorders, addiction — basically how to survive all aspects of growing up in an oppressive societywhere many of our youth face multiple jeopardies.
It is harmful to young people, no doubt, to deny them stories meant to teach them how to survive a society plagued with social ills that include the tragic reality of racial violence committed by police officers. As as an educator, mentor, aunt and godmother, I can see first hand, what it does to our youth.
According to Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, who writes in IAAJ’s Forward, “Black and brown young people bear an unfair burden in America. They are required to understand a history not clearly taught in school, develop survival skills that few teachers impart and navigate unfounded suspicions that no one should confront.” Stevenson goes on to say, “an epidemic of police violence claims the lives of people of color, who are frequently menaced, targeted and harassed. In schools, on streets, and frequently in media and popular culture, black children are presumed criminal and must do exceptional things to enjoy the opportunities other people are freely given. We are Alfonso Jones.”
I recommend the entire Forward by Bryan Stevenson. The statement, “We are Alfonso Jones,” captures the experience of what it’s like to read the graphic novel. Along with Alfonso, we too feel the loss of a promising life, as we’re ripped out of a vibrant neighborhood. We are transported to an eerie afterlife and spiritually encounter the souls of stolen Black lives, from Henry Dumas to Eleanor Bumpers, Amadou Diallo, Anthony Baez and Michael Stewart. It’s a painful but ultimately, it is a healing journey that leaves us with hope. It allows us to grapple and gather strength as we go on, as Alfonso does. This must be why librarians report the book flying off the shelves, according to Medina.
"I think graphic novels are the most popular. Young people eat them up. It's a shame, especially in a time when we have so many police brutality incidents. I can't keep up. In the back of the book there’s a list of incidents, an Ancestor’s Wall that begins with Henry Dumas in1968 and ends with Dwayne Jeune. Imagine if teachers did an exercise on all the incidents since IAAJ was published in 2017." - Tony Medina
To read Tony Medina’s perspective and what inspired him to write IAAJ, check out his essay, “Perspectives on Practice: I Am Alfonso Jones Matters.” Also check out Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky, an anthology of poems about police violence edited by Medina.
What’s behind the book banning ranges from ignorance and fear, to hate and heartlessness. The question we should be asking is, what can we do about it?
Consider buying a copy for a teen in your life, adding it to your curriculum and teaching it if you are a high school or middle school teacher, or adopting it if you teach a college course. It’s a great resource for teachers. I am using it in my African American Literature class, as well as AfroLatinx History and Culture.
I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina
PEN America, one of the best sources to learn about banned books, celebrated its Centennial this year. The non-profit has been advocating for freedom of speech since 1922. The current political climate and threats to freedom of speech throughout the United States rose up to a fever pitch this past year. In response, PEN America tracks books that are banned in schools and libraries throughout the country. PEN America’s Index of School book bans 2021 — 2022 lists IAAJ and a slew of titles. On their website you can also report banned books and check out tip sheets for authors, students and librarians. To learn more, you can also read their, Book Bans: Frequently Asked Questions. Another thing you can do to be proactive is to share on your social media platforms that IAAJ is a must read. It’s a great gift for Christmas, Kwaanza or Three Kings Day. You can also donate a copy to your local library.
I agree with Bryan Stevenson. It’s tragic that we need books like IAAJ. What’s even more tragic, is that books are being banned. It deeply saddens me to know that a book that is meant to help Black and Brown youth cope and surivive the whirlwind is banned in the most reactionary sectors of this empire. That is a crying shame. It’s in places like these, that our youth need books like these the most.
This is a powerful book that should be celebrated, recognized, read, shared, taught in schools and circulated in libraries. I’m with Nikki Giovanni! I Am Alfonso Jones is “incredibly enlightening” and like our precious youth, should be respected and protected.
