How does the author present the media in the novel, This Is My America?

The relationship between the media, race, and the criminal justice system is explored in the novel. In the beginning, Tracy looks to the media for help with her father’s case. After writing letters to Innocence X for years without hearing a response, she decides to crash Jerome’s big interview about track and use the moment to address the camera with a plea about her father’s innocence. Tracy puts all her faith in this stunt working out, risking the disappointment of her parents and both her siblings. However, pleading for help on the local news show seems to do nothing to help her father’s case at first. Eventually, though, Steve Jones arrives in town and tells Tracy that he saw her on the news and was inspired to take her case. And so we see that the media can be a powerful tool with which people in trouble can reach out to those who might be able to help. We see this again when Tracy runs her Know Your Rights workshops and encourages everyone in attendance to download the ACLU app that immediately uploads videos of police brutality and mistreatment to a website that secures the footage and preserves it for eventual dissemination. Again, we see that the media can be used as a tool for social progress and anti-racism.