Riley and Dashawn have been friends since they were three. They got into skateboarding together and have advanced to the point where it's time to create a Sponsor Me tape. They bring a third skater along, Natasha, and try to get some good clips around a new office development. Then the police storm into the lot. The three skaters quickly scatter, trying their best not to get busted. Riley and Natasha arrive at the meet-up spot. They wait and wait, but Dashawn never shows.
The next day Riley visits Dashawn, only to discover that the police have given him a “beat-down.” Nothing like this has ever happened before, and for Riley it is a wake-up call that whether they know it or not, not everyone lives in the same world he does.
I wrote A Dark Truth after becoming sickened by the endless violence against black Americans over the years. Every week there's another story, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. I knew I couldn't, and shouldn't, write from a black youth's perspective. Not in this situation.
I think when you're comfortable, when you feel you're winning, you can't necessarily see how others are losing. I didn't want to get into generalizations, though. This is not about all black kids and all white kids. This is about three kids and the things that happen to them. It was born from a frustration of what has been happening, and was written for a purpose, but it is not an over-arching comment on America, race, or even white privilege. It's about Riley finding out that some people see others only by the color of their skin.