Review of Cracker Jacked

Joyce Nwaogazie · Post by **Joyce Nwaogazie** » 17 Jul 2022, 12:09

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Cracker Jacked" by Lawrence Sterling III.]

4 out of 4 stars

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Cracker Jacked is a non-fiction book written by Lawrence Sterling III. It consists of 15 chapters. Some of the themes present in the book were racism, injustice, murder, and police brutality.

Lawrence was a 32-year-old black American and an honourably discharged Navy veteran. We saw him heading to an expedition after a long night from where he was working. As he approached his truck, some officers from the Livermore Police Department apprehended him. They asked him about the Glock he always kept with him. He was surprised at how they knew. He was handcuffed and held at the back of the police van while they went ahead to search inside his truck. While in the van, he noticed the computer was left on. It showed the complainant and other details. He realised the complainant was his soon-to-be ex-wife. She called the police on him because of the conversation she had heard, which got her pissed. He called the police because he had gone AWOL from the navy. After this incident, he had a series of encounters with the police department, which led to a court case that lasted for three years. He fought so hard that the alleged charges against him would be dropped, and compensation for all his trouble would be given to him. I'll recommend this book to you if you'd like to get the full details of how he was able to scale through the case.

Cracker Jacked encompassed the extent of racism and police brutality meted out by police officers towards people of color. The injustice and discrimination they had to endure. Before going to trial, they were seen as guilty before being proven innocent, defying the standard statute, which said: "a person is innocent till proven otherwise."

I appreciated the author's writing style. It was simple and thus easy to understand without any confusing terms. At the beginning and in strategic places in some chapters, I appreciated that the author embedded bright images and titles under them. This piqued my interest and made me look forward to how it would relate to the chapter. The photos turned out to be effective because he used them as evidence to back up his claims. An example was the evaluation certificate from John George Psychiatric Hospital. He also added the location and time frame of each incident so the readers would know when the incident happened.

The book was professionally edited, as I noted some grammatical errors. Other than that, there wasn't anything I found displeasing. Because the book was well-written with a smooth flow of information and I enjoyed it, I'll award it an excellent rating of 4 out of 4 stars.

I'll recommend this book to readers who love short reads about racism and how to come out stronger from it. Readers going through any form of discrimination will get the courage to fight it by reading this book.

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Cracker Jacked
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Rahel sisay · Post by **Rahel sisay** » 20 Jul 2022, 16:50

I need to read this book it’s a good to know about racism and how to come out for that situation.And I believe I will get courage.

Paully_ · Post by **Paully_** » 20 Jul 2022, 20:09

There will always be racism and especially against people of color discrimination which is quite unfair. Lawrence is a strong character and I would love to read his story. Great review.

John Karanja 1 · Post by **John Karanja 1** » 21 Jul 2022, 01:03

Racism has been observed amongst law enforcement officers which is wrong, but they should respect lives of everyone despite the race.

Post by **Odala J Phiri** » 21 Jul 2022, 23:41

The strong fighter who never gives up always achieves something. Either direct or indirect. Hope it ends well with him. Thanks for the review.

JOY MUTHUI · Post by **JOY MUTHUI** » 22 Jul 2022, 04:21

This is great and educative book. I'm interested already to listen to the whole story, injustice must come to an end. Lawrence is interesting character

Chinemezu Okafor · Post by **Chinemezu Okafor** » 22 Jul 2022, 04:41

Thank you for an exciting review. Racism against the black American community is something that is ingrained within society, it is quite sad that Lawrence, an ex-navy man could not be given the benefit of doubt. Will definitely add this to my bookshelf.

Francis Omotayo Aderogbin · Post by **Francis Omotayo Aderogbin** » 24 Jul 2022, 06:47

This is a wonderful review. I love that Lawrence was able to overcome all hurdles and willing to learn how he did it. Kudos to you.

Jelly_J · Post by **Jelly_J** » 25 Jul 2022, 07:13

Racism is a problem in the society. It can be seen that although Lawrence was an army veteran, he still got in trouble with the police without them running background checks on him. Great review.

Sumto Nii · Post by **Sumto Nii** » 25 Jul 2022, 21:31

I keep saying that all men were created by God and were made equal but we keep on creating divisions and segreagations in the human race. Till we get back to unconditional love, we won't get it right.

Oyedeji Funmilayo · Post by **Oyedeji Funmilayo** » 28 Jul 2022, 23:02

This book have an interesting story line. Lawrence struggles and success will be an intresting read for me and I forward to reading this book. Wonderful review, welldone!!!