Analyse af 'The Baddest Dog in Harlem'

“The Baddest Dog in Harlem” by Walter Dean Meyers, starts in an area in New York called Harlem, here a group of African American men hangs out, they are discussing who the greatest boxer of all-time is. Several police cars pull up on the street where they are. Armed police officers exit the vehicles and the main character knows that when the police come to this area in such fashion, they are most likely looking for a suspect. The cops begin asking them questions about how long they have been standing there. Then they frisk Willy, by patting him down. The group discovers that the police have been alerted that there could be a suspect with an automatic weapon hiding in the building across from where they are standing. The African American men, get scared and get down on the ground to seek cover, just in case some lunatic opens fire. Suddenly there are seven police cruisers there and people had come out to see what the all the fuss is about. The main character describes one of the cops as a so-called “brother”, which would be interpreted as meaning a fellow African American. A police officer falls, whilst releasing the police dogs, and when landing his gun misfires and a bullet goes off. The other policemen react to the gunshot and start spraying bullets at the windows. The owner of the suspected apartment is forced to go unlock the door, so the cops can search the place. When the police then enter the apartment to find the dead shooter, they realize that nobody is in there, except for the owner’s dog, that has been shot dead. The main character is forced to follow the owner and the police to her apartment and when they enter, the owner screams out “YOU KILLED MY DOG?” The police try to lighten the tension by making a joke about the situation and exclaim that the dog from distance could have been perceived as terrorist and the African American cop says, “That’s probably the baddest dog in Harlem” – hence the title of the story. The main character then enters another apartment and sees a young African American boy penetrated with multiple bullets.