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Chapter 16
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On the Come Up, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Individuality
Racism and Prejudice
Trauma, Poverty, and Childhood
Control, Image, and Fame
Summary
Analysis
Bri and Sonny are flabbergasted as they watch Long and Tate wave kids through security. Malik glares at Bri and says that nobody made enough of a fuss. Bri doesn't know what to do, but she doesn't want to be a poster child. Malik starts a chant, but Curtis shouts over him and starts chanting the lines from Bri's song about Long and Tate cuffing her. Most of the crowd joins in, including Bri. She realizes that this is a "call to war." Long appears with a bullhorn and threatens to suspend students, but the students continue to chant. Then, someone punches Long and several boys, including Curtis, descend on Long and Tate. Malik tries to drag Bri away, but she runs to Curtis, tells him, "cops," and Curtis follows her.
While Malik may be right that nobody made enough noise about Long and Tate, it's unfair of him to blame this on Bri. This suggests that Malik, like Bri, is also getting so caught up in his emotions and other activities that his friends are beginning to fall by the wayside. Curtis joining the fray adds more nuance to his character, as it suggests that he's one of the angriest students at Midtown—or at least feels strongly about protecting Bri.
Themes
Bri, Malik, Shana, Sonny, and Curtis run until they can't hear the sirens. Malik shoves Curtis and asks why he started a riot, but Bri defends Curtis. Shana and Sonny try to calm Malik down. After they see two cop cars zoom by, Malik darkly says they can go to his house. Within an hour, most black and Latinx students from Midtown are there too. Students share that ten cop cars and a news van came. They arrested the boys, including Zane, who jumped Long and Tate, and the guards were taken away in ambulances. Parents were told to retrieve their children, and Bri calls Jay to tell her what happened.
While Malik makes a good point that violently tackling Long and Tate wasn't a good move, making a scene with Curtis in public puts this entire group in danger given that there are police on high alert because of the rally. This shows that Malik isn't the paragon of proper protest, as much as he'd like to be. Calling Jay is a way for Bri to show that she loves and respects her, and that she doesn't want her to worry.
Themes
Malik paces while everyone else eats, saying that this isn't going to help the coalition achieve their goals. He says they'll get real cops as security now, and Shana concurs. She says that Long and Tate were probably back because parents believed Bri was dealing, and now, white parents will think all the black students are threats. Curtis says he was just standing up for himself, but Malik retorts that he's just as angry about what happened to Bri but knows this isn't how to protest. Bri is touched. Malik says that now, Dr. Rhodes won't listen to them, and they'll have to go to the school board. Shana stares at Bri and says they need to publicize the video of Long and Tate throwing Bri to the ground. Bri refuses.
One thing that nobody in this room realizes is that there are more options than just keeping the video private or putting it up on YouTube for the entire internet to see. The coalition, with Bri's permission, could show the video to Dr. Rhodes or the school board without making it public, something that could help bring about the same kind of change without throwing Bri into the spotlight. Their inability to come up with a middle ground solution speaks to their youth and the way they think about fame as being just good or just bad.
Themes
Shana asks why Bri is okay with the videos of her "acting ratchet" at the Ring getting out, but not this one. Angrily, Bri says she didn't have control over the Ring video getting out, that she was also standing up for herself, and that she doesn't need a reason to want to keep this video private. Sonny suggests that Shana has a point, which makes Bri stand up to leave. Shana asks Bri again for help, but Bri screams that she doesn't want to give people more ammunition to make assumptions about her. She knows that people will bring up this incident all the time and they'll use it to justify punishing Bri for everything else. Bri leaves.
It’s worth noting that at the Ring, Bri was able to take control of the situation in a way that she wasn't in the video of the incident with Long and Tate. In that scene, she's entirely a victim—and that's one of the things that makes Bri so unwilling to let the video out. While Bri was out of control in other ways at the Ring (her temper definitely got the better of her), it at least can be read as though Bri was the one running the show.
Themes
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At home, Bri finds Jay sprawled on the sofa watching soap operas. She thinks that Jay is faking enthusiasm for the soap, so she says brightly that the meeting at Malik's house was good. Jay says she's calling the superintendent's office and heads for the kitchen. The afternoon news starts and the top story is the rally at Midtown. Bri turns up the volume as the newscaster gives a basic rundown of what happened. She then mentions Bri's song and plays bits and pieces—but only the most violent parts. Jay incredulously drops a loaf of bread.
Bri's sense that Jay is faking her feelings about the soap operas suggests that the struggle of being unemployed is starting to wear on Jay, but she doesn't want to show Bri that that's true. The way that the newscaster presents Bri's song shows Bri that anyone can make her song mean anything by cutting and presenting it a certain way—once it's out in the world, she can't control how people interact with it.
Themes
