Beginning one year before the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, FOR AHKEEM is the coming-of-age story of Daje Shelton, a 17-year-old Black girl in North St. Louis. Placed in an alternative high school, Daje fights for her future as she simultaneously navigates the marginalized neighborhoods, biased criminal justice policies, and economic devastation that have set up many African American teens like her to fail. Through Daje’s intimate coming-of-age story, FOR AHKEEM illuminates the systemic challenges that shape the lives and experiences of so many young people in America today.