Race plays a decisive role in the novel, but it is not necessarily front and center throughout the story. The only time the unsaid prejudices are brought up is when O’Brien, Steve’s lawyer, tells him his race could make people think he is automatically guilty. O’Brien says that despite reminding the jury that Steve is supposed to be presumed innocent, she believes that he is considered guilty by many of them,
Well, frankly, nothing is happening that speaks to your being innocent. Half of those jurors, no matter what they said when we questioned them when we picked the jury, believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you. You’re young, you’re black, and you’re on trial. What else do they need to know?
When O’Brien says “frankly” she means it—this is the only time race is explicitly mentioned in the text as a means by which people view Steve. Otherwise, it goes unspoken but acknowledged in other ways. For instance, when Petrocelli, the prosecutor calls both Steve and King “monsters” during the opening statement. The use of the word “monster” is something that sticks to Steve because it implies that he isn’t human.
The use of language to dehumanize African Americans is a practice nearly as old as America itself. While the argument could be made that Petrocelli would refer to white murders, in the same way, history bears out that it would be unlikely. The truth is that race plays a significant role in not only Steve’s trial but also how he is linked to and portrayed by the case. The prosecution links Steve to King and Evans, who committed the murder because he is black and looks like them. The prosecutor uses that to link Steve to the others in the mind of the Jury.
Race also affects how Steve’s defense is built. Steve makes his case by establishing doubt that he was even there or involved, the other part is built on presenting Steve as an upstanding young man—to try and erase the innate prejudice of the jury. Steve’s defense seeks to distance him from King, while the prosecutors use race to tie him to King.
Race impacts the characters in Monster—especially Steve—because it is something that has a major effect on how people see him.
After jury selection, Steve's lawyer tells him that half the people they could have selected for the jury would have already believed him guilty. One of the reasons he gives for this is that Steve is black. If he was white, they'd be less likely to automatically assume he took part in the crime. His race is a characteristic that makes the trial more difficult for him because many are predisposed to see him as a criminal—before they know anything about him.
It isn't only the potential jurors who find Steve suspicious. His lawyer is also unsure as to whether or not his own client is innocent. Part of the reason that he distrusts him is likely the same reason he gave Steve about the difficulty of selecting a jury.
In Walter Dean Myers's novel Monster, Steve Harmon, a young African American male, is put on trial for murder after a botched robbery leads to the death of a store owner. Throughout Monster, Steve Harmon is looked at as a monster, for many members of the jury—as well as the prosecution team—consider him to be directly involved with the murder. While the prosecution suggests that Steve participated as a look-out man during the robbery and is therefore guilty by association, Steve continues to claim that he is innocent.
Race plays an important role in Monster in the form of bias and prejudice. Steve runs into more problems proving his innocence because of his race. In one of his first interactions with his lawyer, Steve is told,
Half of those jurors, no matter what they said when we questioned them when we picked the jury, believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you. You’re young, you’re Black, and you’re on trial. What else do they need to know?
Steve, therefore, faces higher stakes than many other young men would. Despite the fact that Steve knows King, Cruz, and Bobo only as acquaintances, the jury's (and prosecution's) racial prejudice makes Steve seem directly connected to the murder.
Even though Steve is a kind, mild-mannered young man whose sole interest is cinema, he is looked at as a criminal and a monster solely because of his race. Myers's gripping novel aims to show the reader how racial inequality still exists in this country, particularly in the American justice system.
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