Filmmaker, playwright and educator Darryl Wharton-Rigby has found a provocative way to turn the Trayvon Martin case into a crowd-sourced book project. Wharton-Rigby is collecting stories of the African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American experience in regards to being suspected of being a criminal simply because of the color of their skin. Entitled Suspicious, the anthology project will help raise funds for Trayvon Martin's family's legal expenses
"After reading posts on Facebook, I realized there are millions of men who have stories they can share about their instances of being suspected of doing something -- simply walking, driving, standing, or existing while black or being a man of color," said Wharton-Rigby. "The book will be called Suspicious. "
The book received its first entry within an hour of the idea being posted on Facebook. The Suspicious book project started officially accepting entries on Saturday, March 24th and will keep accepting until April 9, 2012. The book will accept entries for 17 days in honor of Trayvon Martin. "One day for each year in the life of Trayvon," explains Wharton-Rigby.
Suspicious Book Project Guidelines:
Write your story: Essays and stories should be about 500 words. If it's 550 or 600, that's okay too. Just write your story. They can be serious, dramatic, earnest, or funny. Tell your truth.
Deadline: Monday, April 9, 2012.
Submit your stories to: SuspiciousProject@gmail.com
Visit the website at http://www.facebook.com/SuspiciousBookProject. If you have any questions and/or suggestions, please contact Wharton-Rigby directly at SuspiciousProject-at-gmail.com. Feel free to forward, post on Facebook, or tweet (@SuspiciousBook) this to others to let them know about this effort.
Darryl Wharton-Rigby is an award-winning filmmaker who among other things, wrote for the seminal NBC drama "Homicide: Life on the Street" and currently teaches at Morgan State University in Maryland.