Who Shot Johnny?

Debra Dickerson expresses her anger that has came from her sixteen year old nephew being shot and paralyzed in her essay, Who Shot Johnny?

There is a clear sense of hostility towards the way her nephew is now forced to live. From the pain that he is forced to deal with everyday such as catheterizing himself to being limited to playing board and card games, to the pain felt by the family struggling to figure out how to afford accessible housing. Her voice is spiteful and in anguish.

Her language, the last line in particular truly speaks her feelings. "Fuck you, asshole. he's fine from the waist up. You just can't do anything right, can you?" Wow. To begin with, that speaks volumes that she would say something like that in essay form, and on top of that, her conclusion.

Dickerson expresses her hatred toward "the brother", meaning African American man, that shot Johnny. The same man that turned her nice neighborhood into a ghetto, turned peace into crime, and innocent young women into unwanted mothers. This pattern from good to bad, pure to corruption, carries through her writing.