My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On the night of his death, Trayvon Martin spoke on the phone with a teenage girl right up to the moment of his second encounter with George Zimmerman. But was this the same young woman who testified at Zimmerman's subsequent murder trial? Was this "phone witness" fraudulently swapped for another young woman with the complicity of Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump? And why did Florida prosecutors allows the mother of a crime victim to control access to a fact witness?
Having obtained Trayvon Martin's texts and phone records, author Gilbert sets out to answer these questions and more as he reexamines the events that led to the death of a teenage boy and the destruction of a man's life. Gilbert explores the dark intersections of grief and profit, parental responsibility and tragedy, racial myth, teen lust, and facts that don't fit any media narrative.
Gilbert's search for answers leads him through Miami's urban teen culture as well as the Haitian community. The author's dogged willingness to chase elusive truth begs larger questions as to why the media, plus the State of Florida—possessing the same information—preferred fiction over veracity to the point of convicting a man for a crime he did not commit.
Stunning revelations, supported by evidence, make for a compelling read, serving as an alternative to the contemporary fantasy of a tragic death based solely on race.
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4 comments:
A day read for sure.
I know I couldn't read something this heavy before bed. Too strong.
Astounding legal malfeasance on the part of the prosecution,
not to mention the family.
I'm torn between wanting to give the story a read and wanting to escape everything that reminds me of the crap the papers are full of.
I note on Goodreads you may've changed your mind.
A jaw-dropping story, to say the least.
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