MISSISSIPPI STILL BURNING

FROM HOODS TO SUITS

What you’re about to read in the next several hundred pages is a tale that seems beyond imagination, beyond belief.

However, this is no story book. This is the true and accurate tale of my extraordinary life from preacher to preacher, from gangs to prison, from beatings to freedom. Every word on these pages is a direct revelation from me, a window into the realities that I’ve witnessed and been a part of. There are moments here that brought great joy and heartened my spirit, and moments of utter failure that brought me to my knees and challenged my ability to persevere.

Humanity is full of people that are notorious for the crimes that they’ve committed. If you take a moment to list famed killers, you can probably come up with a half dozen by just barely thinking for a moment. Violence and the threat of it sticks with us, it makes an impression on us quickly and deeply. My year and a half spent living with notorious KKK leader and murderer Edgar Ray Killen in prison in Mississippi opened my eyes to what was really happening in the Southern United States, and indeed all over the country. It also opened my eyes as to what men are capable of. Prior to my incarceration with Edgar Ray Killen, I’d had a great deal of experience with death through my work in the inner city of Los Angeles with the gangs. But I didn’t understand what death really was until my time at Parchman with Edgar.

It’s important to know that I very much have a sense of purpose in my life. People spend whole lifetimes trying to figure out what the direction of their life should be, but it’s something that I’m blessed to know. My life’s journey is about healing. It’s about healing people’s relations with one another, building bridges across divides that seemed unconquerable.