Tyrone
- Open Mike Friday is one surprise after another: Raynard's dyslexic and Steve actually has rhythm.
- See, Tyrone, Wesley, and Sterling are going to do a freestyle poem in front of the class. One of them will start, then the next will jump in, then the next, until someone finishes it up.
- All of a sudden, though, Steve jumps up to join them.
- Tyrone isn't so sure about this. Steve's white, after all, so can he flow?
- Turns out Steve has the right stuff, prompting Tyrone to wonder a little about his family tree.
- What other secrets does this kid have?
Open Mike: News at Five
- The free verse Tyrone, Steve, and Wesley come up with is all about how kids from their neighborhood are portrayed on the news.
- Tyrone sees white people calling black kids thugs and saying they have no future.
- Steve thinks they just need to ignore all that and prove the naysayers wrong.
- Wesley agrees. Maybe they should end this rap with Tyrone and Steve shaking hands. That's a good way to start breaking down barriers.
Sheila
- When Sheila sees Porscha walk by she tries to copy her walk.
- Wesley sees her, though, and he wants to know what's up with Shelia. Why is she trying so hard to act and be black?
- Sheila explains that she just wants to fit in. Everyone has dark skin, even the people in her family, but she's all pale and blonde.
- What's wrong with wanting to be like everyone else?
- Wesley explains that when Sheila graduates she's going to leave their neighborhood and move on. She'll probably go to college and get a job where everyone else will look like her. Will she still want to be black then?
- Sheila never really thought about life after high school; all she focuses on are the ways she doesn't belong now. Bummer.
- Wesley tells her she needs to write about her feelings and bring her words to Mr. Ward's class. We smell another Open Mike Friday coming on…
Open Mike: Private Puzzle
- Sheila's poem is about how she usually feels lost and scattered, but then she can go to Mr. Ward's class and sort out her thoughts.
Tyrone
- Tyrone notices that this is the second week in a row Sheila has read.
- Hey, and she's not trying to get everyone to call her by her "Africana" name anymore.