Invisible Son

Andre doesn’t want Black Lives Matter protesters’ efforts to go to waste. He suggests that they change the route of the protest away from the bridge. Andre begins recording live on his YouTube channel. The paid protesters start to riot. He tells his audience that those with yellow ribbons are there to spark violence. Sierra and Boogie try to convince him to go home, but he says that he’ll join Sierra at the bridge.

Andre meets Boogie and Sierra, and then he goes live while he videocalls Mr. Whitaker. He confronts him, asking about the rioters and the federal agents that would be sent to stop them. He asks about Eric wanting to turn himself in. He lies and says that he recorded the conversation that Mr. Whitaker had with Cowboy Jim in his office. Mr. Whitaker asks how he could stop Andre from talking. Andre asks if he paid off Eric, but Mr. Whitaker says that he isn’t worried about Eric. He offers to wipe out Andre’s father’s debt.

Andre demands that he admit what he did, but Mr. Whitaker says that no one will believe him and that he’ll tell Jim about it the next time they talk. His threat implies that he and Jim are already in touch, which is what Andre needs. Andre retorts that Mr. Whitaker wanted to silence people and that he won’t let that happen.

Boogie tells Andre that he’s on CNN, and he watches as Mr. Whitaker realizes that he’s been caught. The call ends. A camera operator comes over to Andre, and Andre explains that seeing the protesters made him want to fight to show how everyone’s voices matter. He hands the microphone over to Sierra to read Eric’s letters. They recount everything about the thefts and about their parents.

Sierra knows that she’s still in danger, and she gives Luis the number for a lawyer and their mom’s suicide letter. She goes with Andre to find Terry. Halfway across the bridge, she admits that she won’t be able to go home. She wants to make sure that Andre is safe. Sierra asks if he’ll get in trouble now that the truth is out, and Andre isn’t sure.

Andre and Sierra join all the protesters in the eight minutes and 46 seconds of silence in honor of George Floyd. It starts to rain, and when the silence is over, Andre and Sierra kiss.

They start to go off the bridge just as protesters are forced off of it. To distract her, Andre suggests that they go live again. He puts on “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins. However, they don’t comment on the music, just let it play in the background. Tear gas starts to spread, but the rain makes it ineffective. Andre hops on a car as he records. He feels like even though people are fleeing, they’ve won.

Andre and Sierra get in Terry’s car, and they go home. Cowboy Jim’s car is there. Kate, Luis, and Boogie also arrive. Grandma J comes out on the porch with both of Andre’s parents.

Jim holds Eric’s backpack. Marcus arrives and asks if Jim has a warrant. Marcus says that he’s going to tell people that Jim planted the backpack. He also says that he went into their system and found that Jim listed himself as Marcus’s replacement while he was away, without approval. Andre adds that he heard him on the call with Mr. Whitaker, who will make it seem like Jim’s fault. Jim leaves.

Andre’s parents chastise him for breaking curfew. Marcus says that he can help, though Andre is still nervous. Terry says that he didn’t find any proof that Gavin, Eric, Paul, or Mr. Whitaker put the backpack in his locker. Brian appears and says that it was him: Mr. Whitaker had told him to do it, but he didn’t say that it was Andre’s locker. Andre realizes that Eric didn’t frame him.

Luis says that Eric isn’t going to return. When Eric initially came back to their house, Luis wasn’t with the rest of his siblings at a concert in Seattle, as everyone thought he was. He heard arguing, then quiet, and then saw that the banister was broken. He went out onto the roof and saw his parents with Eric’s things in a metal trash can. There was also a tarp, but he didn’t see what was under it. Afterward, Luis went back inside his room, and Mrs. Whitaker discovered that he was home. He pretended to be asleep, and she sat in his chair. She said that she didn’t realize he was there and that Eric had left. He wanted to believe her, which is why he didn’t say anything.

Andre lets it sink in, sure that Eric is dead. He says that they’ll make sure their father is investigated for the abuse. Then, he realizes that it’s Mrs. Whitaker abusing them. When he says this out loud, Brian says that it’s their dad who tries to cover it up.

Luis chimes in again, saying that Eric and their mom were alone in his room. He heard a thud before silence. When Mr. Whitaker came home, he argued with his wife. He concludes that Mrs. Whitaker killed Eric.

Marcus says that they’ll investigate all this but that they need to start moving before Jim gets to Mr. Whitaker, who will cover it up. He has to bring Andre in and follow procedure so that the court will trust his word against Jim. Andre sobs as he’s led away.

Two days later, on June 4, Andre is still mad at Marcus. Due to new COVID-19 restrictions, he is allowed to stay at home. He gets a new lawyer, and they sit waiting for a court hearing over Zoom. Marcus joins the Zoom meeting, as do the director of the Oregon Youth Authority and the judge. They agree to maintain Andre’s monitoring plan, though he has to get a new ankle monitor. Andre is also not allowed out in the evening or downtown during a protest. The call ends, and Andre’s lawyer says that he’s working on an appeal that accounts for new evidence.

Their street is blocked off when they return home because of the press around the Whitakers. Their house is taped off. All the Whitaker children stay with Andre’s grandparents, though Sierra, Kate, and Brian are now all 18. The Whitakers were never arrested but went to the police station themselves, where they immediately bailed themselves out. They’re still at home. When they enter, Sierra reports that a warrant has been issued to search the Whitakers’ house.

Andre starts to go over to one of the police officers to make sure that they’ll keep looking for evidence. He realizes that the house looks different from when he was first arrested. He pulls up the video of his arrest, which he’d kept rolling even when he was out of his house. Where Eric stands in the video, watching as Andre is taken away, are now rose bushes. Sierra screams and starts digging. Mrs. Whitaker tries to stop her, but soon a police officer gets a shovel. Andre almost hopes that they don’t find Eric because he wants his friend to be alive. An officer says that they’ve found something.

It’s July 6, and the Whitakers have said nothing. They’ve now been arrested for murder and have given the house to Brian. The children can move back in, and Brian has applied to be Luis’s guardian. Sierra refuses to go back into the house, so she sends Andre to get her things. When he’s there, he looks at Eric’s room. He sees that the finish on the floor is different in one part of the room, and he knows that this is where Eric was killed.

The Whitaker kids keep the roses near their house since Eric was part of the earth that helped them flourish. They have a small service there, and Grandma J lights some sage. They each make promises to Eric. Andre finally says that he’s sorry he didn’t know what was wrong with the Whitaker parents and that he wishes he’d helped. He will watch out for Luis and Sierra and stand up for himself. Gavin speaks last, admitting that he knew it’d be worse for Eric if he was caught and that he wishes he’d been a better friend.

When everyone finally leaves, Sierra and Andre stay behind.

In August 2020, there is still a pandemic, but Andre is working with his dad to get the shop in order. He plans on living at home and starting at the local community college. He received a full scholarship to Morehouse College, but he worries about being away from his family. Morehouse said he could transfer in at a later date. Sierra is going to the University of Oregon. Andre is also going to help Terry and Marcus with a new community program to help Black and Brown children.

Andre lies in the backyard with Sierra. They enjoy being together. They catch up since she’s been spending time with her old foster family on the farm, and Andre tells her the latest about Terry and Marcus.

At the end of the novel is a list of songs that have lent their names or have similar lyrics to the chapter titles. They are all older songs that Andre likely would’ve listened to and streamed on his YouTube channel.

In the Author’s Note, Kim Johnson describes the collective trauma that people experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. She wanted to write about the experiences of Black and Brown people because she did not see their lives reflected in the media.

Johnson also wanted to write to, and for, those who have experienced the criminal justice system firsthand, particularly those of color who have experienced racial prejudice and injustice. She also explains that the history of racial discrimination, gentrification, and COVID-19 might be in the past, but they are also present concerns. She based Luis’s character on a real boy named Devonte Hart, whose five adopted siblings were presumed dead when their parents drove their car off of a cliff. The children had previously asked their neighbors for help. She also describes how her husband’s family came to Oregon in the 1940s and are still there.