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Driving Mr. Charlie
Protests and Police Shooting
There were protests around Parker Center, the headquarters of the LAPD. The officer was not charged with a crime. He did, however, face a board of review. About one year later, he was fired by Chief Daryl Gates. It was revealed that the black officer was once a policeman in Chicago, Illinois. While with that department, he shot and wounded a woman who, like Eula Love, was black. In recent years, there have been many controversial shootings between police officers and black citizens, many who were unarmed.
Fictionalized Story and Reflection
My book, which is mostly fiction, may raise the question of whether the 1979 shooting was nearly as bad as the ones since. Kelley Jefferson is a fictionalized version of the black officer. I don’t even remember the name of the actual officer. His redemption and reinstatement are pure fiction. It is, however, possible that, by today’s standards and with a good lawyer, that policeman could have kept his job. Be mindful, however, that the author is not taking a side but is making a prediction based on some recent events. Other true events helped to inspire this story.
Historical Events and Subplots
In 1953, a home invasion robbery resulted in the death of a sixty-four-year-old widow named Mabel Monahan. One of the killers was a thirty-year-old woman named Barbara Graham. In 1955 she was executed in the gas chamber. Another subplot centers around the US Supreme Court ruling against state-supported school segregation in 1954 as well as the death of John Kennedy and the resulting presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson and Johnson’s support of the Vietnam War. The story talks about his decision not to seek reelection in 1968. The movie studio system in Hollywood was also an inspiration for other subplots.
