The 57 Bus

In 2013, a high school student named Sasha was asleep on the 57 bus in Oakland, California, when Richard Thomas, another teenager, set Sasha’s skirt on fire. This incident left Sasha, who identifies as agender, with severe third-degree burns and led to Richard being charged with hate crimes as an adult. Dashka Slater reconstructs the lives of both teenagers, examining the divergent backgrounds of a white private school student and a Black youth from a struggling neighborhood. The narrative details the legal proceedings, the mechanics of the juvenile justice system, and the specific motivations behind the split-second decision that altered two families forever.

Readers interested in the intersection of restorative justice and gender identity will find a factual account of how the American legal system treats adolescent offenders. The book is written for those seeking to understand the complexities of hate crime legislation and the nuances of non-binary identities. Readers finish the book with a clearer picture of how socioeconomic disparity influences criminal sentencing and how community mediation offers an alternative to the traditional prison system. It provides a technical look at the consequences of impulsive actions within a polarized social landscape.