Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, and Love of My Son Michael Brown
- 10h 29m 13s
- Lezley McSpadden
- Blackstone Audio, Inc. dba Blackstone Publishing
- 2016
This revelatory memoir by the mother of Michael Brown, the African American teenager killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, sheds light on one of the landmark events in recent history.
"I wasn't there when Mike Mike was shot. I didn't see him fall or take his last breath, but as his mother, I do know one thing better than anyone, and that's how to tell my son's story and the journey we shared together as mother and son," says Lezley McSpadden.
When Michael Orlandus Darrion Brown was born, he was adored and doted on by his aunts, his uncles, his grandparents, his father, and most of all his 16-year-old mother, who nicknamed him Mike Mike. McSpadden never imagined that her son's name would inspire the resounding chants of protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, and ignite the global conversation about the disparities in the American policing system. In Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil, McSpadden picks up the pieces of the tragedy that shook her life and the country to their core and reveals the unforgettable story of her life, her son, and their truth.
Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil is a riveting family memoir about the journey of a young woman triumphing over insurmountable obstacles and learning to become a good mother. With brutal honesty, McSpadden brings us inside her experiences: being raised by a hardworking single mother; her pregnancy at age 15 and the painful subsequent decision to drop out of school to support her son; how she survived domestic abuse; and her unwavering commitment to raising four strong and healthy children, even if it meant doing so on her own.
McSpadden writes passionately about the hours, days, and months after her son was shot to death by Officer Darren Wilson, recounting her time on the ground with peaceful protestors, how she was treated by police and city officials, and how she felt in the gut-wrenching moment when the grand jury announced that it would not indict the man who had killed her son.
After the system failed to deliver justice for Michael Brown, McSpadden and thousands of others across America took it upon themselves to carry on his legacy in the fight against injustice and racism. Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil is a portrait of our time, an urgent call to action, and a moving testament to the undying bond between mothers and sons.
In this Audiobook
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Introduction: My Truth
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Chapter One - Four and a Half Hours Too Long
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Chapter Two - The Twelve-Year-Old Dream and the Little Red Suitcase
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Chapter Three - Grandma's Hands
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Chapter Four - Hood Love
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Chapter Five - Ladue
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Chapter Six - The Party … Rolo Gold
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Chapter Seven - First Times and Blue Lines
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Chapter Eight - God Bless the Child
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Chapter Nine - Beautiful Surprise
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Chapter Ten - Schoolyard Stompdown
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Chapter Eleven - It Takes a Village
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Chapter Twelve - He Loves Me Not
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Chapter Thirteen - Broken Promises
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Chapter Fourteen - Food on the Table
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Chapter Fifteen - Ghetto Rose
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Chapter Sixteen - Growing Pains
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Chapter Seventeen - Stronger with Each Tear
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Chapter Eighteen - Boys to Men
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Chapter Nineteen - Manchild with Promise
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Chapter Twenty - Me and God Against the Odds
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Chapter Twenty-One - Won't Bring Him Back
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Chapter Twenty-Two - Three Sides to Every Story
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Chapter Twenty-Three - Let My Baby Go
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Chapter Twenty-Four - The Longest Day
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Chapter Twenty-Five - Mama Got Four
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Chapter Twenty-Six - We Didn't Start the Fire
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Chapter Twenty-Seven - December 25, 2014
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Chapter Twenty-Eight - Smoke and Mirrors
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Chapter Twenty-Nine - Rainbow of Mothers
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Chapter Thirty - Still We Rise
