The Weight of Blood

The podcast hosts interview Rashad Young, the student who recorded the video of pencils being thrown into Maddy’s hair. Rashad started recording instances of racism after an unarmed Black child was shot by police in the nearby larger town of Greenville, South Carolina, and the video evidence of the shooting helped people see what really happened. Rashad’s phone’s camera stopped working abruptly while he was recording, though, just as the supposed “earthquake” was starting. Rashad thinks it was not an earthquake but some magic on Maddy’s part.

Back in 2014, there’s a senior week that includes Halloween in May, a costume contest at a school assembly. Wendy and Kenny have dressed as eggs and bacon, hoping to win a couples’ prize. Each couple is called on stage to show their costumes and then judged by applause level. The last one is announced as Maddy and her father, but out walks Jules in blackface and an afro wig, accompanied by her college boyfriend, Brady, dressed as Maddy’s dad. Maddy runs out of the auditorium, but nobody follows her. Mrs. Morgan confronts Mr. O’Donnell. Jules and Brady approach Wendy and Kenny, who both point out that their costumes are unacceptable and she should leave.