Ella Jackson

Ella Jackson is one of Riot Baby's two main characters. When the novel begins, Ella is a child, and she has just begun to realize that she has powers others do not have. She is capable of seeing into the future, and she has visions that show her the violent deaths of other children she knows. After Ella's brother Kev is born, the family moves from South Central to Harlem, at which point Ella's powers become more violent. Kev witnesses her using her powers to choke their mother. Soon after, Ella disappears from their Harlem apartment for several years, having gone to the desert to learn to control her powers.

As she matures, Ella becomes increasingly distressed about the violence she sees perpetrated against Black Americans like her and her family. She feels an enduring and incandescent anger, particularly about the deaths of other Black people at...