''Murder is murder, and if someone did it, they’re guilty.'' (from the book Race against Time)
In Race against Time Jerry Mitchell brings civil rights cases, that happened 40 years ago, back into the spotlight. Too long have they been filed as cold cases, it’s time to bring justice to the murders who committed those crimes.
The KKK is known throughout the world, and many documentaries have been published. In this book, the author takes a different approach to that subject, here the focus is on the victims and seeking punishment.
Jerry Mitchell digs deep into the local stories, he leaves no stone unturned no matter how dangerous it could be for himself. What he reveals leads to the belief that a long time ago, the murders didn’t get what they rightfully deserved.
This astonishing revelation returns the cases back into court, with hopefully enough sufficient evidence and potential witnesses, to nail them this time. But due to having happened 40 years ago, solving these cases seems like a Race against Time, finding still living witnesses becomes a struggle.
The identified victim’s families have never lost hope in discovering the truth, it only needed Jerry Mitchell, a courageous reporter who relentlessly has been searching for the missing pieces. It’s because of the ones who never gave up, even if at some points the possible outcome looked far from promising, that justice will in the end prevail.
I came across this book the first time when I was listening to a podcast from the Murder Squad. In that episode, Jerry Mitchell was a guest, where he talked about the civil rights era and how these civil cases were handled back then in 1964. His narration caught my interest, and I wanted to find out more about it, and it didn’t disappoint me. I admire his incredible courage when he met with those possible suspects and his relentless search for key evidence. Despite the horrible topic, the authors writing style is captivating, gripping from the first page to the last. Although we can only imagine how difficult life during that era was, thanks to Jerry Mitchell we get a very informative insight into it. A very interesting read, and in my opinion even better than the film Mississippi Burning. I am glad that with his help and engagement some of the cases could be closed, even if it took such a long time. I would recommend this book to everyone interested in historical books and crime-solving.