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Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed
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 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 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.
472 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 22, 2023
488 people are currently reading
9107 people want to read
About the author
Dashka Slater
28 books467 followersDashka Slater’s novel, The Wishing Box, was named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, which called it “an impish novel, hopeful and full of humor.” She is the author of four acclaimed children's books: Baby Shoes; Firefighters in the Dark; The Sea Serpent and Me and Dangerously Ever After. She has two picture books forthcoming in 2017, as well as the much-anticipated Young Adult non-fiction narrative The 57 Bus.
Slater is also an award-winning journalist who has written for such publications as Newsweek, More, Salon, Mother Jones, Sierra, and The New York Times Magazine. The recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, she is currently working on new books for both children and adults. Learn more at www.dashkaslater.com.
Slater is also an award-winning journalist who has written for such publications as Newsweek, More, Salon, Mother Jones, Sierra, and The New York Times Magazine. The recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, she is currently working on new books for both children and adults. Learn more at www.dashkaslater.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 972 reviews
April 8, 2023
Slater's previous YA nonfiction, The 57 Bus, was a masterclass in nonfiction. Fast-paced, laser-focused and gripping with educational information and personal narratives doled out in ways that make connecting the dots easy.
Accountable is the exact opposite. It drags on and on and ON. Slater covers the stories of two dozen teens on both sides of the racist account until they all bleed together. The most page time is devoted to trying to understand the motivation perpetrators but, unlike the perpetrator in 57 Bus, these kids still aren't sorry and still don't get it. They keep complaining about how they shouldn't be punished their whole lives for a "mistake". The account creator even say that the victims of his racist posts deserved a payout for what he and his friends put them through, but doesn't see why that should come out of his money.
And fine, this could be an attempt for the author to be as objective as possible, but coming back to them over and over across 500(!) pages as if a dead parent, depression, or having lower status in their friend group is important information, when the victims are only getting a few poems and almost no personal stories outside the scope of what was done to them, makes this an unpleasant slog.
Accountable is the exact opposite. It drags on and on and ON. Slater covers the stories of two dozen teens on both sides of the racist account until they all bleed together. The most page time is devoted to trying to understand the motivation perpetrators but, unlike the perpetrator in 57 Bus, these kids still aren't sorry and still don't get it. They keep complaining about how they shouldn't be punished their whole lives for a "mistake". The account creator even say that the victims of his racist posts deserved a payout for what he and his friends put them through, but doesn't see why that should come out of his money.
And fine, this could be an attempt for the author to be as objective as possible, but coming back to them over and over across 500(!) pages as if a dead parent, depression, or having lower status in their friend group is important information, when the victims are only getting a few poems and almost no personal stories outside the scope of what was done to them, makes this an unpleasant slog.
January 16, 2023
I received this book from NetGalley for review.
There is so much about this book that’s great, but in my opinion there is also a lot of fluff. I really loved the aspect of reading the perspectives of everyone involved, and it was very clear this author thoroughly researched all sides of this issue. It was very nuanced and unbiased as it shared the thoughts and experiences of people on both sides of this incident, those who created and interacted with the account, and those who were targeted.
Eventually I did get to a point in reading where I felt like there was nothing else that could be said about this incident, but it just kept going. There were such minute details that sometimes were not at all necessary to understand the author’s points. It took so long to get to the resolution of the book that even though this was a very interesting topic, I got bored. There was great scientific information, but it felt clouded by unimportant dialogue and anecdotes.
I liked the idea of the poems and writing pieces in between chapters of information- but it was never made clear if these were creative pieces added by the author, or actual pieces written by the people involved.
There is so much about this book that’s great, but in my opinion there is also a lot of fluff. I really loved the aspect of reading the perspectives of everyone involved, and it was very clear this author thoroughly researched all sides of this issue. It was very nuanced and unbiased as it shared the thoughts and experiences of people on both sides of this incident, those who created and interacted with the account, and those who were targeted.
Eventually I did get to a point in reading where I felt like there was nothing else that could be said about this incident, but it just kept going. There were such minute details that sometimes were not at all necessary to understand the author’s points. It took so long to get to the resolution of the book that even though this was a very interesting topic, I got bored. There was great scientific information, but it felt clouded by unimportant dialogue and anecdotes.
I liked the idea of the poems and writing pieces in between chapters of information- but it was never made clear if these were creative pieces added by the author, or actual pieces written by the people involved.
March 31, 2023
Wow---what an incredibly powerful book. If I were a high school teacher or parent of a high schooler, I would assign this book as soon as it's published. I don't remember hearing about this story when it first broke, but it's a power testament to how hate can be so easily spread and quickly take over while wrecking so many young lives in the process. It is written in a very easy to read format with short chapters that are perfect for teenagers who are easily distracted. I just can't say enough about what a powerful book this is. Most adults would benefit from reading this too. It's so easy to be a keyboard warrior nowadays and kids especially don't release that what they post even when they think it is private can and does have real world consequences.
February 19, 2024
This should be required reading in high schools, by both students and faculty. The racist instagram account was horrible enough, but the mishandling of the entire situation by the adults was INSANE. I mean, as much as I wanted to say to these boys, "What the HELL is wrong with you?" after things got going with the aftermath I wanted to literally find the adults involved (with a few small exceptions) and be like, "No, what the ACTUAL HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU AND WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?"
April 9, 2024
If you're a teacher, buy a class set.
Read
September 16, 2023Like her previous book The 57 Bus, Dashka Slater’s Accountable (Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2023) is a harrowing work of journalism for young adult readers. In 2017, a small group of high school students started, followed, or commented on an Instagram account with blatantly racist memes and language. Some of this content was aimed at their classmates, in some cases at classmates the “Harmers” considered their friends. Accountable follows the story from before the account is established, through the devastating effects it has on the targeted students and faculty members, and how it impacts those responsible for perpetuating the account. Slater interviewed most of the people involved in the scandal, and her meticulously sourced material bursts in short chapters that reflect the complex, prismatic nature of the case.
Those of us who have taught high school for any time at all will recognize each of the individuals in Accountable: the perpetrators who say it was “just a joke,” the victims who struggle to face going to school after being so publicly attacked, the parents who want to protect their children, and the well-intentioned but harried school administrators and teachers. At 450-plus pages, Accountable may scare off some potential readers but those who delve into the first few pages will likely find themselves completely absorbed in a fast-paced story that is extremely relevant to their everyday lives.
This review is also posted on my What's Not Wrong? blog in slightly different form.
Those of us who have taught high school for any time at all will recognize each of the individuals in Accountable: the perpetrators who say it was “just a joke,” the victims who struggle to face going to school after being so publicly attacked, the parents who want to protect their children, and the well-intentioned but harried school administrators and teachers. At 450-plus pages, Accountable may scare off some potential readers but those who delve into the first few pages will likely find themselves completely absorbed in a fast-paced story that is extremely relevant to their everyday lives.
This review is also posted on my What's Not Wrong? blog in slightly different form.
August 22, 2023
Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus is, to this day, one of my favorite YA nonfiction books. We even teach it at my high school in 10th grade. So I was pumped to read her newest investigative piece about another case that involved teens and made the reader ask important questions.
In Slater's newest book, Accountable she covers the events at a high school over the span of about a year and how those events negatively impact the harmers and the harmed. With the discovery of a racist private Instagram account, the school and community of Albany, California must reckon with the consequences of the content. As with her first book, Slater asks the reader to try to understand the causes of the conflict, questioning not just the motives of individuals, but systemic issues in our country that helped lead those individuals to making those decisions. Slater tackles racism and the way intersectionality makes it worse for some, toxic masculinity, peer pressure, the impact of trauma, the impact of social media, and other issues that explain why something like this was possible. While she doesn't excuse the actions of the harmers, she asks the reader to find fault not simply with the perpetrator, but the ways that teenagers are impacted by the world in which they live.
While this book did ask the reader to do the same kind of thinking that I appreciated in her first book, I didn't love this one as much. By nature of the case she covered, there were a lot of people to track, so the book drags a bit as she has to check in with each of the main players in it. I'd say about halfway through the book, I hit a wall and wanted to put it down for a bit. But overall it was intriguing and thought provoking, and would be a great read for teens, parents, and educators in 2023.
In Slater's newest book, Accountable she covers the events at a high school over the span of about a year and how those events negatively impact the harmers and the harmed. With the discovery of a racist private Instagram account, the school and community of Albany, California must reckon with the consequences of the content. As with her first book, Slater asks the reader to try to understand the causes of the conflict, questioning not just the motives of individuals, but systemic issues in our country that helped lead those individuals to making those decisions. Slater tackles racism and the way intersectionality makes it worse for some, toxic masculinity, peer pressure, the impact of trauma, the impact of social media, and other issues that explain why something like this was possible. While she doesn't excuse the actions of the harmers, she asks the reader to find fault not simply with the perpetrator, but the ways that teenagers are impacted by the world in which they live.
While this book did ask the reader to do the same kind of thinking that I appreciated in her first book, I didn't love this one as much. By nature of the case she covered, there were a lot of people to track, so the book drags a bit as she has to check in with each of the main players in it. I'd say about halfway through the book, I hit a wall and wanted to put it down for a bit. But overall it was intriguing and thought provoking, and would be a great read for teens, parents, and educators in 2023.
September 10, 2023
Excellent, nuanced look at a case in Northern California's Bay Area in 2017 when a boy creates a private Instagram page for himself and his buddies and fills it with racist posts — and then the girls who are the targets (as well as their friends) discover it and everyone's lives are torn apart.
It's even better than the author's previous book, "The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives," also nonfiction, about a boy who liked wearing dresses and was set on fire by another student.
The author is a journalist, and she does a great job sharing the perspectives of the girls who were targeted and the boys who followed, liked and commented on the Instagram page. This is not easy to do, and the author masterfully navigates all the landmines that possible woke and anti-woke critics could lay for her.
Despite its YA label, it also doesn't dumb down the sociological and psychological data and theory that can shine a light on what happened. Even something as seemingly simple as "What is racism?" is handled freshly and smoothly here.
I liked how she explains how bystanders who pile-on with accusatory comments on social media are not speaking out in order to try to deter bad behavior but to signal their own virtuosity. Yes, yes, it's the "virtue signaling" label, but she talks about it in a way that doesn't shame those on the right and left who engage in it, but instead discusses it in a way that inspires the reader not to want to fall into the same trap.
And while it's not played up and not at all handled as an excuse, the point is made that teenage boys often make exaggerated, intentionally over-the-top offensive comments as a way to make their friends laugh. Again, it doesn't make what they did right, but it adds context that helps the reader understand what happened better.
The author also sprinkles in almost poetic riffs that channel a teenager's diary and that help convey the hurt and emotions the students are feeling.
Oh, and it also shows how restorative justice — if not done expertly and wisely — can easily make things worse.
Just fabulous, an excellent read.
#netgalley
It's even better than the author's previous book, "The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives," also nonfiction, about a boy who liked wearing dresses and was set on fire by another student.
The author is a journalist, and she does a great job sharing the perspectives of the girls who were targeted and the boys who followed, liked and commented on the Instagram page. This is not easy to do, and the author masterfully navigates all the landmines that possible woke and anti-woke critics could lay for her.
Despite its YA label, it also doesn't dumb down the sociological and psychological data and theory that can shine a light on what happened. Even something as seemingly simple as "What is racism?" is handled freshly and smoothly here.
I liked how she explains how bystanders who pile-on with accusatory comments on social media are not speaking out in order to try to deter bad behavior but to signal their own virtuosity. Yes, yes, it's the "virtue signaling" label, but she talks about it in a way that doesn't shame those on the right and left who engage in it, but instead discusses it in a way that inspires the reader not to want to fall into the same trap.
And while it's not played up and not at all handled as an excuse, the point is made that teenage boys often make exaggerated, intentionally over-the-top offensive comments as a way to make their friends laugh. Again, it doesn't make what they did right, but it adds context that helps the reader understand what happened better.
The author also sprinkles in almost poetic riffs that channel a teenager's diary and that help convey the hurt and emotions the students are feeling.
Oh, and it also shows how restorative justice — if not done expertly and wisely — can easily make things worse.
Just fabulous, an excellent read.
#netgalley
November 8, 2023
Read most of this in one night because I couldn’t sleep with all the secondhand adrenaline rushing through me. Impressive and empathetic reporting - goes way beyond The NY Times long form article. Raised and skillfully sat with big questions: what does accountability look like? Whose needs and feeling get priority, and how? What does healing g mean interpersonally and collectively? How do you respond in the moment?
The whole Time I just kept thinking about what I would’ve done if I had been a teacher in this school, when there was no right response, but infinite wrong ones.
I will probably be thinking about this for many years to come, which is five stars for me.
The whole Time I just kept thinking about what I would’ve done if I had been a teacher in this school, when there was no right response, but infinite wrong ones.
I will probably be thinking about this for many years to come, which is five stars for me.
April 23, 2024
I read this book with my school colleagues, principal, and superintendent of curriculum. Wow! What an important book! We had some deep, thoughtful conversations each week as we read this in 3 parts. Honestly, I can't get it out of my head. How can we, as a staff, better protect our students where social media is concerned? I'm still not sure my town of Grand Haven is prepared for a situation such as this; but reading, talking, and reflecting sure helps move us in the right direction.
January 15, 2025
5 Stars for content and importance!
4 Stars for writing style and execution!
This one’s tough to rate because it’s a blend of a well researched and important non-fiction topic sprinkled with some poetry and an anthology feel (my least favorite genre of book) all mixed into a book that felt just little too long. However, this book is important!!
Kids should be reading and discussing this in schools. Ohhh wait… some schools in United States would find this “too sensitive and controversial” since it discusses racism, systemic inequality, and critical race theory. Some schools would ban this book in the classroom which is 100000000000% infuriating and sad. This book is a perfect example of why race SHOULD be discussed in schools!!!
If students are uncomfortable reading this book, then maybe they should think about why they are uncomfortable. No, I’m not indoctrinating your child… I’m trying to get them understand where people are coming from and to prepare them for the workforce, possible relationships and friendships, and to help them become better caring adults. And that sometimes words and jokes go way too far and can be hurtful and dangerous. This book is why these discussions are needed. So many lives were changed, harmed, and even ruined because conservatives weren’t able to happen. I’m upset that more people won’t get to read this.
I think this book is somewhat approachable for teenagers even though the book is almost 500 pages. The chapters are 1-3 pages long, so it's a very easy read and can keep the attention span for kids. However, I do still think the book felt a little long. Some parts were pretty repetitive because we were getting the point of view from a very large cast of people. I also had a hard time following the different groups of friends. There was even a chart provided at the beginning of the book that had the group of friends explained, and that was incredibly helpful, but even by the end of the book, I couldn't quite remember who some of the people were.
I could see some kids who aren't used to non-fiction books struggling a little bit. Not because of the writing or content, but because the author includes some poetry interludes every now and then, (that I think were kind of cool), but I could see some kids struggling with the blending of these two genres; especially when the book is a little on the long side already. Honestly, I preferred the straight non-fiction parts and think the poetry parts could have been taken out.
But what a mess this ENTIRE situation was.
I highly recommend this to teachers, administrators, and anyone who works in education!
4 Stars for writing style and execution!
This one’s tough to rate because it’s a blend of a well researched and important non-fiction topic sprinkled with some poetry and an anthology feel (my least favorite genre of book) all mixed into a book that felt just little too long. However, this book is important!!
Kids should be reading and discussing this in schools. Ohhh wait… some schools in United States would find this “too sensitive and controversial” since it discusses racism, systemic inequality, and critical race theory. Some schools would ban this book in the classroom which is 100000000000% infuriating and sad. This book is a perfect example of why race SHOULD be discussed in schools!!!
If students are uncomfortable reading this book, then maybe they should think about why they are uncomfortable. No, I’m not indoctrinating your child… I’m trying to get them understand where people are coming from and to prepare them for the workforce, possible relationships and friendships, and to help them become better caring adults. And that sometimes words and jokes go way too far and can be hurtful and dangerous. This book is why these discussions are needed. So many lives were changed, harmed, and even ruined because conservatives weren’t able to happen. I’m upset that more people won’t get to read this.
I think this book is somewhat approachable for teenagers even though the book is almost 500 pages. The chapters are 1-3 pages long, so it's a very easy read and can keep the attention span for kids. However, I do still think the book felt a little long. Some parts were pretty repetitive because we were getting the point of view from a very large cast of people. I also had a hard time following the different groups of friends. There was even a chart provided at the beginning of the book that had the group of friends explained, and that was incredibly helpful, but even by the end of the book, I couldn't quite remember who some of the people were.
I could see some kids who aren't used to non-fiction books struggling a little bit. Not because of the writing or content, but because the author includes some poetry interludes every now and then, (that I think were kind of cool), but I could see some kids struggling with the blending of these two genres; especially when the book is a little on the long side already. Honestly, I preferred the straight non-fiction parts and think the poetry parts could have been taken out.
But what a mess this ENTIRE situation was.
I highly recommend this to teachers, administrators, and anyone who works in education!
July 15, 2023
I know I'm going to be teaching narrative nonfiction in the fall. It's honestly one of my favorite genres to read. Making real life read like fiction makes it appealing to my middle schoolers (who normally only pick up nonfiction if it's about sports or written by a celebrity.)
But this book has so many tiers of things that they can relate to. High school students who are all "friends" and struggle with anxiety, power dynamics, speaking up, and bad choices. We literally had a situation similar to this one occur at our school. The posts were not nearly as horrible but there definitely was racist content.
I want to adopt this book for my class curriculum because I feel that so many of my students don't truly understand the history behind racist expressions and imagery - not to mention what exactly the first amendment protects and why schools are obligated to get involved in these situations (the Tinker test.) This book is educational on so many levels and is written about a topic that students are ridiculously familiar with. It's also an incredible door opener for students to begin to understand how choices on the internet can impact their entire lives. I don't want to tell other teachers what to do (that's the government's and angry parents' jobs, amiright?!) but I think this book should be required reading for every middle school student.
Another awesome thing about this book is that it offers tons of discussion questions already written that get kids engaged in talking about personal responsibility and ethics. This is a fantastic springboard for students to practice argumentative and debate skills. I honestly haven't been this excited to use a book in my classroom in a long time.
But this book has so many tiers of things that they can relate to. High school students who are all "friends" and struggle with anxiety, power dynamics, speaking up, and bad choices. We literally had a situation similar to this one occur at our school. The posts were not nearly as horrible but there definitely was racist content.
I want to adopt this book for my class curriculum because I feel that so many of my students don't truly understand the history behind racist expressions and imagery - not to mention what exactly the first amendment protects and why schools are obligated to get involved in these situations (the Tinker test.) This book is educational on so many levels and is written about a topic that students are ridiculously familiar with. It's also an incredible door opener for students to begin to understand how choices on the internet can impact their entire lives. I don't want to tell other teachers what to do (that's the government's and angry parents' jobs, amiright?!) but I think this book should be required reading for every middle school student.
Another awesome thing about this book is that it offers tons of discussion questions already written that get kids engaged in talking about personal responsibility and ethics. This is a fantastic springboard for students to practice argumentative and debate skills. I honestly haven't been this excited to use a book in my classroom in a long time.
February 27, 2024
4.5⭐️Fantastic choice for book club or a buddy read. So much to discuss. I read to learn, be entertained or be distracted. This book made me think about so many things. I’ve had discussions about the issues raised outside of book club. The content served as a good starting point for tough conversations. Accountable is about a racist social media account. The author expertly balances the perspectives on both sides of this true story. Well paced with short chapters alternating between the different perspectives. We really have no idea what our coworkers, classmates, friends and family are doing on their phones all day long while sitting right next to us. While many think there is privacy on social media that isn’t true. Even a private account is a quick screenshot away from becoming very public. Many lessons to be learned about racism, privacy and accountability.
Told through the eyes of the boys who were involved with the account and the girls impacted by the account. The author takes the readers along from the discovery of the account, through the immediate aftermath, the school’s difficult decisions about punishment and years after the events.
So many questions raised. Is a school district responsible for the content on student phones? THe activity they are engaging in during school hours. Can an individual grow, Learn and move past racist actions? Should freedom of speech be granted in all scenarios? How does a person move on after these events?What is justice?
I learned a lot. While this provided a lot of questions and food for thought, I was also riveted. I wanted to see how the events played out and how all parties moved forward.
Highly recommend!
Told through the eyes of the boys who were involved with the account and the girls impacted by the account. The author takes the readers along from the discovery of the account, through the immediate aftermath, the school’s difficult decisions about punishment and years after the events.
So many questions raised. Is a school district responsible for the content on student phones? THe activity they are engaging in during school hours. Can an individual grow, Learn and move past racist actions? Should freedom of speech be granted in all scenarios? How does a person move on after these events?What is justice?
I learned a lot. While this provided a lot of questions and food for thought, I was also riveted. I wanted to see how the events played out and how all parties moved forward.
Highly recommend!
August 20, 2023
This extremely well-researched book tells the true story of Albany, California, where a racist social media account changed the lives of not only the teens involved, but of a school, of parents, and a community. Slater uses multiple perspectives to tell the events in an unbiased journalistic manner. The story is shocking and compelling and all too common. I live in a school district that saw multiple suicides last year due to racist bullying and a complete failure of the school administration to prevent any of it. Slater's book is aimed at teens, and while I hope every teen takes the time to read it, I think it should be required reading for every teacher, school administrator, and every parent no matter their child's age. This is essential reading. Review from e-galley.
April 4, 2025
4 Stars
This is such an important and eye-opening read, diving deep into passive racism and how social media plays a role in shaping accountability, identity, and harm. It’s heavy but necessary + Slater does a great job exploring all sides with nuance and compassion.
This is such an important and eye-opening read, diving deep into passive racism and how social media plays a role in shaping accountability, identity, and harm. It’s heavy but necessary + Slater does a great job exploring all sides with nuance and compassion.
October 24, 2023
I loved The 57 Bus, so I was really excited when this came out. I just felt that there were so many people that it was easy to lose the threads of the story.
December 14, 2024
With The 57 Bus, Dashka Slater established herself as a remarkable observer, with the rare capacity to be not just fair, but generous, to all parties in a contested and high-conflict situation. In Accountable, she brings the same superpower to a far more complex situation. The 57 Bus story basically has one perpetrator and one victim, even though Slater is meticulous about bringing in many other affected people (parents, school friends, the bus driver, etc.) Accountable has multiple victims, multiple perpetrators, and a surprising number of people who fit both categories simultaneously.
Briefly, this book is about a teenage (Asian) boy who opened a (private) Instagram account with about a dozen male followers, on which he posted some substantially graphic racist images, all in an attempt to garner attention, favorable comments, and likes. When the account was outed, the situation at the school heated past the boiling point, all efforts to de-escalate the situation failed, and eventually suspensions, expulsions, lawsuits, settlements, and feuds seem to have become the order of the day.
To tell a nuanced story about this racist social media account, Slater not only had to win the trust of many of the affected teenagers and some of their parents, she also had to become conversant with the norms of 2017 Instagram, the expectations of 2017 high-school students about social media involvement, the social history of race, the ethnic and class composition of Albany, California (where I lived for a short time in the 1980s), and the ins and outs of school administrator and school board behavior, not to mention the legal system.
She does this in multiple very short chapters, switching from viewpoint to viewpoint, inserting impersonal social commentary where she feels it is helpful, writing some segments as if they were poetry. She never claims to have all the answers; I suspect she would say that she hasn't even asked all the questions. What she has done is humanize most if not all of the participants, both targets and actors, and lay out the geography of how the situation unfolded. The book creates -- not a road map but somewhat of a pitfall-identifier -- for other teenagers, and other schools in comparable situations. It also is an exploration for everyone of the benefits of taking the time to learn the whole truth.
Amazingly enough, in the seven years between the subject matter of the book and its publication, in the final chapters virtually every teenager Slater identifies seems to have emerged as an adult on a good path, doing not just better but usually well, and with extremely well-developed tools to examine both their past and their present. I never would have guessed this was how the book would end.
Highly recommended for virtually everyone.
Briefly, this book is about a teenage (Asian) boy who opened a (private) Instagram account with about a dozen male followers, on which he posted some substantially graphic racist images, all in an attempt to garner attention, favorable comments, and likes. When the account was outed, the situation at the school heated past the boiling point, all efforts to de-escalate the situation failed, and eventually suspensions, expulsions, lawsuits, settlements, and feuds seem to have become the order of the day.
To tell a nuanced story about this racist social media account, Slater not only had to win the trust of many of the affected teenagers and some of their parents, she also had to become conversant with the norms of 2017 Instagram, the expectations of 2017 high-school students about social media involvement, the social history of race, the ethnic and class composition of Albany, California (where I lived for a short time in the 1980s), and the ins and outs of school administrator and school board behavior, not to mention the legal system.
She does this in multiple very short chapters, switching from viewpoint to viewpoint, inserting impersonal social commentary where she feels it is helpful, writing some segments as if they were poetry. She never claims to have all the answers; I suspect she would say that she hasn't even asked all the questions. What she has done is humanize most if not all of the participants, both targets and actors, and lay out the geography of how the situation unfolded. The book creates -- not a road map but somewhat of a pitfall-identifier -- for other teenagers, and other schools in comparable situations. It also is an exploration for everyone of the benefits of taking the time to learn the whole truth.
Amazingly enough, in the seven years between the subject matter of the book and its publication, in the final chapters virtually every teenager Slater identifies seems to have emerged as an adult on a good path, doing not just better but usually well, and with extremely well-developed tools to examine both their past and their present. I never would have guessed this was how the book would end.
Highly recommended for virtually everyone.
September 5, 2023
So compelling. I loved Slater's previous book The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives and this one may be even better because it intersects so many other topics I find worthwhile and fascinating to read about. This story encapsulates so many issues affecting our society: misogynoir young Black girls face, pressures and traumas teens deal with at home growing up - even in seemingly cookie-cutter, mostly well-off families, why being < funny > is so important to teen boys particularly (ughhhh)... Most of all, it showed to me how we as adults don't know how to clearly educate children on racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism and how unclear many adults are when meting out discipline. (The way the adults at Albany ISD handled this was a trainwreck.) I loved how Slater uses so many resources - science, history, psychology, journalism to dispel bad information, to give context to what's happening. It was insightful, thoughtful, and well done (especially after talking to one boy who unlike many of the other boys actually believes his race is superior, about his dubious "race science" and how it proliferates online). Most of all, I didn't want to put this book down and I appreciate a book that hooks me.
February 8, 2024
Dashka Slater says in her afterword that when she began researching the devastation that a high schooler’s private Instagram account with racist and sexist posts wreaked on a tight-knit community in 2017, she hoped that a few of the involved parties would speak with her. Instead, she was able to speak with most of the involved students, along with some parents and teachers. The result is a compelling exploration of friendships torn apart, freedom of speech, what it means to be complicit, the consequences of the choices we make, the roles of schools and families and our larger society.
Never dry, never preachy, Slater lets the involved parties carry the narrative, and readers are invited to reflect on the questions that are raised through the recounting of events.
Ariel Blake provides excellent narration of the audiobook.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm for this complimentary audiobook through their ALC program for librarians.
Never dry, never preachy, Slater lets the involved parties carry the narrative, and readers are invited to reflect on the questions that are raised through the recounting of events.
Ariel Blake provides excellent narration of the audiobook.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm for this complimentary audiobook through their ALC program for librarians.
July 13, 2024
I learned so much from this extremely well written and engaging true story. The author says in the afterward that the nature of the project “was to tell a complicated story from multiple perspectives,” and I think I was most impressed by that. She really thoughtfully humanizes all the people in the story, at the same time teaching the reader about racism, social media, high-school hierarchies, different models of justice, and more. Because of the chapters are under about 5 pages or less, it never felt overwhelming, and I was always ready to go back to it. Highly recommend.
June 9, 2024
When a private social media account depicting racist images gets shared with a high school community; deep wounds, and anger are widely spread. This is the true story of the aftermath of that event; and the emotional turmoil and scarring some of those individuals received from it.
I was in awe of the care that Slater has put into this book. Told with a bold voice; this is an important piece in our society��s reconciliation with our past racism and our current racism. I really enjoyed this book, and am glad to have it as a part of our school library.
I was in awe of the care that Slater has put into this book. Told with a bold voice; this is an important piece in our society��s reconciliation with our past racism and our current racism. I really enjoyed this book, and am glad to have it as a part of our school library.
April 12, 2024
This is a really thought-provoking book. Slater raises some great questions, and I really appreciate the nuanced way she looks at the incident through a number of different lenses and points of view.
November 12, 2023
So much to chew on with this—I’d love to see what my students do with it.
April 20, 2024
An absolute must read
November 7, 2024
As a high school teacher, it’s easy for me to imagine how this situation might play out with my own students. It’s also impossible to know how to handle it, from a teacher perspective. But the target audience for this piece is high school students, to build empathy and awareness around how their actions might affect others. It is difficult and important, and I’ll have to grab a copy for my classroom library.
It also caused a certain amount of self-reflection in regards to speaking up on social media. What is my role when I see others posting bigoted content? If no one calls them out, will they ever learn? Will calling them out be effective at all? I was able to put myself in the students' shoes who were caught "liking" and "following" the material with minimal engagement. How am I complicit in harmful behaviors around me? Again, no easy answers, but I appreciate the chance to reflect.
It also caused a certain amount of self-reflection in regards to speaking up on social media. What is my role when I see others posting bigoted content? If no one calls them out, will they ever learn? Will calling them out be effective at all? I was able to put myself in the students' shoes who were caught "liking" and "following" the material with minimal engagement. How am I complicit in harmful behaviors around me? Again, no easy answers, but I appreciate the chance to reflect.
September 26, 2023
Should someone be punished for liking an offensive Instagram post?
That is one of many complicated questions Dashka Slater explores in her new book, Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed. In 2017, a group of high school boys created a private Instagram account where they posted racist images and comments about their classmates and teachers. When the account was discovered, the school was torn apart in its efforts to find justice for the victims, who wanted everyone associated with the account expelled.
Slater spent years investigating the story, talking with students, teachers, and parents in Albany (just north of Berkeley). As she did with her previous work of non-fiction, The 57 Bus, Slater helps the reader understand all facets of the story. Her empathy for the victims of the account is clear, but it’s her treatment of the perpetrators that struck me as more challenging. What the boys did was terrible, but Slater doesn’t write them off as monsters. She tries to understand where this hateful behavior comes from and if there’s any recovery for a community touched by it.
That is one of many complicated questions Dashka Slater explores in her new book, Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed. In 2017, a group of high school boys created a private Instagram account where they posted racist images and comments about their classmates and teachers. When the account was discovered, the school was torn apart in its efforts to find justice for the victims, who wanted everyone associated with the account expelled.
Slater spent years investigating the story, talking with students, teachers, and parents in Albany (just north of Berkeley). As she did with her previous work of non-fiction, The 57 Bus, Slater helps the reader understand all facets of the story. Her empathy for the victims of the account is clear, but it’s her treatment of the perpetrators that struck me as more challenging. What the boys did was terrible, but Slater doesn’t write them off as monsters. She tries to understand where this hateful behavior comes from and if there’s any recovery for a community touched by it.
November 5, 2023
Dashka Slater's previous book, The 57 Bus, impressed me so much because of her ability to show both sides of the story. It's not a "here are the bad guys, here are the good guys", and Accountable followed that same format. Yes, what the creators and followers of the Instagram account did was abhorrent, but she also showed how this negatively impacted the lives of all students involved. We live in a world where it's so easy to hide behind a screen and show and say terrible, hurtful things, and this book really brings that to the forefront. I've long been convinced that there is very little to put in the "pro" column of having social media (and allowing my own children to have it), and Accountable reinforces a lot of my personal beliefs. I would really encourage teens to read this, as there are many, many valuable lessons to be learned here.
September 6, 2023
This book needs more publicity immediately!
The entire time listening to this audiobook, I kept thinking, "How can I get my teenage sons to read this book?" It is one of those books that every high schooler must read. It needs to be extensively discussed in classrooms. It is that book that, as soon as I finished it, I wanted to start it again.
This is nonfiction at its best. There are so many layers and facets to this story, and Dashka Slater does an incredible job of laying out each one in a way that encourages the reader to consider every side while simultaneously looking inward to reflect on how our own seemingly harmless choices can have a lasting impact on our own lives and the lives of others.
The entire time listening to this audiobook, I kept thinking, "How can I get my teenage sons to read this book?" It is one of those books that every high schooler must read. It needs to be extensively discussed in classrooms. It is that book that, as soon as I finished it, I wanted to start it again.
This is nonfiction at its best. There are so many layers and facets to this story, and Dashka Slater does an incredible job of laying out each one in a way that encourages the reader to consider every side while simultaneously looking inward to reflect on how our own seemingly harmless choices can have a lasting impact on our own lives and the lives of others.
August 11, 2024
A little late in writing this review but still wanted to make sure to note some of my thoughts... I so appreciate the way Dashka Slater can tell a story. I watched a few news clips about this story after reading it and could see how quickly this story could fade away from the quick, choppy way its told in the news versus the way Slater really spends the time to uncover the humanity behind the players on all sides.
The posts on the account in question were shocking to read about. It was very hard to see how anyone could have looked past such things and not seen them for what they were... The 'harmers' as they were called, certainly had a lot to be held accountable for - but Slater also rightfully points out how easy it is for teenagers to get muddied up in their mistakes to the point of no return. Her discussions of shame and racism and the success (or failure) of how the two interact were powerful for learning how to productively handle unthinkable situations in a way that may have a chance at bringing about real change. Even though there's a lot of anger and hurt and it might feel justified to impose shame and nothing but shame on the offenders, it doesn't do much but cause those offenders to double down and feed back into the cycle.
After reading this, I'm left feeling like this perspective would be helpful for most adults, as well as teens, to read - and that we need to be putting a lot more work into building up restorative justice programs. And also that, as My Chemical Romance puts it, "teenagers scare the living shit out of me."
Sections of the text worth revisiting:
On Racism:
"The majority of Americans now say that they don't believe in superior or inferior races. Most people know that this isn't a good way to think, which isn't at all the same as not thinking it. But the word racism also describes the ways one's behavior can reinforce or reflect the idea that some races are better than others, regardless of a person's intentions or awareness. So here's a better definition: Racism is a system of advantages based on race. A person can contribute to that system of advantages by actively stereotyping or discriminating, but they can also do so by feeling a lack of interest in or empathy for the experiences of people of other races. They can even do so by not wanting to expend the energy necessary to make a situation fairer and more inclusive because it's working out fine for them." (p. 87-88)
On Shame:
*I feel this section particularly highlights all the ways we go wrong with trying to tackle justice and how that creates a mob mentality of perpetual fear and mistrust. We don't make any room for change or growth. It is certainly not easy to approach those who have done harm and wrong with love and forgiveness. Shame is so much easier and feels much better... I think people are afraid that offering any kind of love in response to harm means they are saying the harm was okay. But that's not the case. We as a society need to become more comfortable with that dichotomy of calling out wrong while calling in change.
"The fact that shaming feels good to the people doing the shaming and bad to the people who are being shamed isn't much of a surprise. The whole point of shaming someone is to make them feel bad, particularly someone who seems like they're not going to feel that way on their own, someone who seems impervious, impenetrable, unreachable...Dr. Brené Brown [...] draws a distinction between guilt and shame. Guilt, she says, is both helpful and healthy: 'It's holding something we've done or failed to do up against our values and feeling psychological discomfort,' she writes. Shame, on the other hand, is 'the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging - something we've experienced, done, or failed to do makes us unworthy of connection.' Guilt focuses on the behavior. Shame focuses on the person [...] Shame of all kinds - including bullying - has been shown to increase the risk of depression, addiction, suicide, and anxiety. Shaming is also a punishment that is rarely specific or proportional or temporary [...] Public shaming, particularly online, has no expiration date [...] [Even] people who weren't directly victimized by a crime or misdeed will participate in public shaming rituals not because they care about what happens to the person being shamed, but because they want to enhance their own reputation [...] If you tell someone that their actions prove that they're a terrible person, they have three choices. They can accept your verdict, which can lead to long-term mental health problems, loss of self-esteem, substance abuse, and repeat offenses ('I'm a bad person, so I can't help doing bad things'); they can shift blame by creating a narrative in which someone else is at fault and they are misunderstood or wrongly accused; or they can find people who will give them validation and praise for the exact behavior that caused people to reject and stigmatize them [...] Shaming people can thus have the effect of making them double down on the behavior they've been shamed for." (p. 248-252)
The posts on the account in question were shocking to read about. It was very hard to see how anyone could have looked past such things and not seen them for what they were... The 'harmers' as they were called, certainly had a lot to be held accountable for - but Slater also rightfully points out how easy it is for teenagers to get muddied up in their mistakes to the point of no return. Her discussions of shame and racism and the success (or failure) of how the two interact were powerful for learning how to productively handle unthinkable situations in a way that may have a chance at bringing about real change. Even though there's a lot of anger and hurt and it might feel justified to impose shame and nothing but shame on the offenders, it doesn't do much but cause those offenders to double down and feed back into the cycle.
After reading this, I'm left feeling like this perspective would be helpful for most adults, as well as teens, to read - and that we need to be putting a lot more work into building up restorative justice programs. And also that, as My Chemical Romance puts it, "teenagers scare the living shit out of me."
Sections of the text worth revisiting:
On Racism:
"The majority of Americans now say that they don't believe in superior or inferior races. Most people know that this isn't a good way to think, which isn't at all the same as not thinking it. But the word racism also describes the ways one's behavior can reinforce or reflect the idea that some races are better than others, regardless of a person's intentions or awareness. So here's a better definition: Racism is a system of advantages based on race. A person can contribute to that system of advantages by actively stereotyping or discriminating, but they can also do so by feeling a lack of interest in or empathy for the experiences of people of other races. They can even do so by not wanting to expend the energy necessary to make a situation fairer and more inclusive because it's working out fine for them." (p. 87-88)
On Shame:
*I feel this section particularly highlights all the ways we go wrong with trying to tackle justice and how that creates a mob mentality of perpetual fear and mistrust. We don't make any room for change or growth. It is certainly not easy to approach those who have done harm and wrong with love and forgiveness. Shame is so much easier and feels much better... I think people are afraid that offering any kind of love in response to harm means they are saying the harm was okay. But that's not the case. We as a society need to become more comfortable with that dichotomy of calling out wrong while calling in change.
"The fact that shaming feels good to the people doing the shaming and bad to the people who are being shamed isn't much of a surprise. The whole point of shaming someone is to make them feel bad, particularly someone who seems like they're not going to feel that way on their own, someone who seems impervious, impenetrable, unreachable...Dr. Brené Brown [...] draws a distinction between guilt and shame. Guilt, she says, is both helpful and healthy: 'It's holding something we've done or failed to do up against our values and feeling psychological discomfort,' she writes. Shame, on the other hand, is 'the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging - something we've experienced, done, or failed to do makes us unworthy of connection.' Guilt focuses on the behavior. Shame focuses on the person [...] Shame of all kinds - including bullying - has been shown to increase the risk of depression, addiction, suicide, and anxiety. Shaming is also a punishment that is rarely specific or proportional or temporary [...] Public shaming, particularly online, has no expiration date [...] [Even] people who weren't directly victimized by a crime or misdeed will participate in public shaming rituals not because they care about what happens to the person being shamed, but because they want to enhance their own reputation [...] If you tell someone that their actions prove that they're a terrible person, they have three choices. They can accept your verdict, which can lead to long-term mental health problems, loss of self-esteem, substance abuse, and repeat offenses ('I'm a bad person, so I can't help doing bad things'); they can shift blame by creating a narrative in which someone else is at fault and they are misunderstood or wrongly accused; or they can find people who will give them validation and praise for the exact behavior that caused people to reject and stigmatize them [...] Shaming people can thus have the effect of making them double down on the behavior they've been shamed for." (p. 248-252)
August 8, 2024
Wow…just wow…a thoughtfully written look at racism, social media and their intersection, and the future of young people in this country - all told through the lens of this unbelievable (yet, unfortunately, very believable) real-life experience. There were too many times to count when I had to stop, reread something, and then read it aloud to Jacob in disbelief - at the blatant and unapologetic instances of racism, the statistics or research regarding the effects of that bigotry as well as those of public humiliation or different types of justice, and the harrowing recollection of how a community reacts in crisis, for better or for worse, and splintering apart in the process.
This is by no means an easy story to tell, especially from all sides - perpetrators and targets - so I tip my hat to Dashka Slater for the care and detail with which she approached it. The combination of investigative journalism and creative writing was seamless, and something I don’t think I’d ever seen before in nonfiction, but would love to see again
This is by no means an easy story to tell, especially from all sides - perpetrators and targets - so I tip my hat to Dashka Slater for the care and detail with which she approached it. The combination of investigative journalism and creative writing was seamless, and something I don’t think I’d ever seen before in nonfiction, but would love to see again
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