RCC/Richmond County Hoopla Book Club Discussion on ZOOM
When:
October 5, 2020 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
2020-10-05T17:00:00-04:00
2020-10-05T18:00:00-04:00
Where:
Richmond County Public Library/ RCC Campus
Meeting on ZOOM - e-mail aparsons@rappahannock.edu for link
Meeting on ZOOM - e-mail aparsons@rappahannock.edu for link
Cost:
Free
Contact:
Abby Parsons
Our next meeting of our RCC/Richmond County Hoopla Book Club on Zoom will be on Monday, October 5th at 5:00PM. The new title for this month is “Good Kids, Bad City: A Story of Race and Wrongful Conviction in America” by Kyle Swenson. It is available for download as an audio book from Hoopla – with no waiting list! New members are always welcome. Discussions usually last about one hour. Contact Abby Parsons (aparsons@rappahannock.edu) for the Zoom link information.
Book Summary:
From award-winning investigative journalist Kyle Swenson, Good Kids, Bad City is the true story of the longest wrongful imprisonment in the United States to end in exoneration, and a critical social and political history of Cleveland, the city that convicted them.
From award-winning investigative journalist Kyle Swenson, Good Kids, Bad City is the true story of the longest wrongful imprisonment in the United States to end in exoneration, and a critical social and political history of Cleveland, the city that convicted them.
In the early 1970s, three African-American men―Wiley Bridgeman, Kwame Ajamu, and Rickey Jackson―were accused and convicted of the brutal robbery and murder of a man outside of a convenience store in Cleveland, Ohio. The prosecution’s case, which resulted in a combined 106 years in prison for the three men, rested on the more-than-questionable testimony of a pre-teen, Ed Vernon.
The actual murderer was never found. Almost four decades later, Vernon recanted his testimony, and Wiley, Kwame, and Rickey were released. But while their exoneration may have ended one of American history’s most disgraceful miscarriages of justice, the corruption and decay of the city responsible for their imprisonment remain on trial.
Interweaving the dramatic details of the case with Cleveland’s history―one that, to this day, is fraught with systemic discrimination and racial tension― Swenson reveals how this outrage occurred and why. Good Kids, Bad City is a work of astonishing empathy and insight: an immersive exploration of race in America, the struggling Midwest, and how lost lives can be recovered.
