Monday’s Not Coming Explores Missing Black Girls, Media Bias and Police Negligence
When one thinks of thriller stories, one may think of Stephen King, Halloween, murder mysteries, etc-all man-crafted stories that are often fictional and embellished to induce some spook or panic for entertainment-heavy on fake plot.
But have you ever stopped to consider that the scariest things filled with thrill aren’t always fictional? They’re often in the dark crevices of real life that we as humans refuse to face- and the real chills shoot through your body when you realize that horror is often hidden in plain sight?
Monday’s Not Coming, a young adult thriller published in May 2018 by acclaimed Brooklyn YA author Tiffany D. Jackson weaves a tale based on a true story about Black girl friendship, what happens when adults don’t listen to children’s curiosity and warnings, systemic racism and murder.
When Claudia’s best friend Monday goes missing after she failed to show up for the first day of 8th grade, no one seems to notice except Claudia. Everyone tells her to mind her business, but she knows in her heart something is seriously wrong and continues to dig for clues about her best friend's whereabouts while dealing with her own issues as well. When Claudie enlists some help to find her friend, she uncovers some painful, abhorrent and sickening details about her friend's life away from her.
This story is inspired by the true stories of two missing children cases from D.C and Detroit. Being a woman of color, Jackson said she wanted to highlight the missing children (especially teen girls) epidemic and how no one has any agency when Black girls are missing, how kids are left to slip through the cracks in the system, and the racially charged bias the media upholds when presenting news about missing White youth vs. missing Black youth and youth of color.
When Jackson turned in the first drafts, the hashtag #MissingGirlsDC had just gone viral. Jackson wanted to make sure her book did justice to the crimes and innocent Black girls who were turned into candle vigils, buried bodies and trending topics in the news.
The story itself is well-written, darkly funny, gut wrenching and has an air of innocence. It weaves between a time lapse of The Before, when Monday was still alive for a period of time and Claudia discovered her grisly demise, and The After when Claudia was forced to unearth clues about Monday’s life.
Claudia describes the people in her life as colors, which lends a humanly poetic aspect to the story and is also dyslexic, so readers get to help her decipher her thoughts as the story progresses forward. Jackosn’s storytelling skills shine as she not only captured the voice of a middle school Black girl perfectly, but is also meticulous in sprinkling in the culture of toxic Black mothers, Washington DC lingo, the innocence but also heavy thinking and “grow up fast” way of life of Black girls. Jackson is a master of her craft in YA and we need more stories that are unapologetic about youth of color and the unique issues they face in cultured, raw and contemporary ways.