Accountable
The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
YALSA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION WINNER ● From the New York Times-bestselling author of The 57 Bus comes Accountable, a propulsive and thought-provoking true story about the revelation of a racist social media account that changes everything for a group of high school students and begs the question: What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?
“Powerful, timely, and delicately written.” —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times–bestselling and National Book Award-winning author
When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as “edgy” humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew.
Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults—educators and parents—whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse.
In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left asking: Where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean?
Award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author Dashka Slater has written a must-read book for our era that explores the real-world consequences of online choices.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Slater (The 57 Bus) chronicles the fallout of a high schooler's bigoted Instagram account in this emotionally raw work, divided into 15 parts. In 2017, racist and misogynist meme posts from an Instagram account run by a Korean American high school junior leaked onto other social media platforms. This was just the beginning of the account's reach, which started with a following of 13 primarily white and Asian students in Albany, Calif., and soon consumed the rest of the town. Conversational prose paired with forthright interviews from the individuals who experienced the event document court cases, mediation attempts, and student protests against the account and its owner, as well as how the incident affected followers of the account, classmates in the periphery, and students who were directly impacted post-graduation. In addition to these eye-opening testimonials, Slater explores meme and internet culture, and its effect on teenagers' mental health and self-perception. Raising essential questions about accountability and complicity, this pertinent read encourages personal reflection and presents a balanced, nonconfrontational look into a situation that, as one student affirms, had gone "a little too far." Includes an author's note, statistics, sources, and a bibliography. Ages 12–up.
