Charleston

MICHAEL BROWN: A MOTHER'S GRIEF

 

Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, And Love of My Son Michael Brown, by Lezley McSpadden (Regan Arts, New York, NY, 2013, 254 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

Equal rights, fair play, justice are like the air; we all have it, or none of us has it. That is the truth of it.

  • Maya Angelou

August 21, 2016 (San Diego) - I feel honored and privileged to write this review of Lezley McSpadden’s book; Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, and Love of My Son Michael Brown. She and I actually have a lot in common, as we both were born in Missouri, me about 150 miles south of Ferguson in the bootheel, the small town of Charleston. Also, she bears a likeness to my sister Janet, also born in Charleston, mostly through their close set eyes and facial features.


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DEJA VU: PRELUDE TO MICHAEL BROWN AND FERGUSON, MISSOURI

 

The Lynching of Cleo Wright, by Dominic J. Capeci, Jr. (The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 1998, 274 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

August 25, 2014 (San Diego's East County) - Terry Teachout, a New York Times critic, playwright, and inveterate blogger, and I have something in common. He and I were both born in the “bootheel” of Missouri, he in Sikeston and I in Charleston – in the area of one of the most tragic and heinous lynchings in the annals of America; the lynching of Cleo Wright. We both, also have weighed in on Dominic J. Capeci’s book; The Lynching of Cleo Wright, which has been described as “a creatively conceptualized anatomy of a lynching, and “Capeci places the lynching of Cleo Wright within the context of the city of Sikeston, the state of Missouri, and the nation.” This book should also be viewed in context with the ongoing furor and debate of Ferguson, Missouri and the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white policeman.


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Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.