Twin Cities, Charles Adams
Twin Cities, Charles Adams
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Twin Cities
My Life as a Black Cop and a Championship Coach

Author: Charles Adams, Jason Turbow

Narrator: Leon Nixon, Charles Adams

Unabridged: 7 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/12/2023


Synopsis

A Black Minneapolis cop and inner-city football coach faces racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd inflames his city and forces him to explore the tensions in the neighborhood where he grew up.

Charles Adams is a product of the Minneapolis’s North Side, the city’s poorest neighborhood, and of North High, the state’s poorest school. After graduation he joined the Minneapolis Police Department, overcoming racial prejudice within its ranks to become his alma mater’s resource officer. North High was in rapid decline, a building designed for 1,700 students down to about 200. Once the centerpiece of the community, the school was on the verge of folding. Then something magical happened.

Adams stepped in as football coach, and transformed a winless team into state champions. With that success came renewed pride in the school and neighborhood both. As North High began to thrive, Adams was hailed as a model of what a Black man from a Black neighborhood might be. That lasted until Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, which brought a rain of chaos upon Minneapolis. Working to maintain order in a riotous city, Adams feared for his life, his relationship to his community forever changed.

The memoir of a life divided, Twin Cities is the story of what happens when a man gives everything to his city in an effort to help kids envision a better future, only to have his city turn on him in response. Adams navigates the space between reality and perception, between law and justice, with the insight and wisdom he has gained from his unique experience.
 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Miguel

An outstanding look into the complexities of life as a Black police officer in the Minneapolis Police Department. Charles Adam tells his story with blunt truth and insight into an area of our community that is far from where it needs to be but in a way that while revealing of its shortcomings is fil......more

Goodreads review by Jeremy

Read in one sitting even if 250 pages. Incredible autobiography ...describing a police officer who is also a high school football coach in North Minneapolis Brought me angry sad and joyous all in same reading. Can't recommend enough......more

Goodreads review by Kristi

I finished this book weeks ago and have been thinking and thinking about how to review the book. First of all I must say that I am a 75-year-old white woman. I have lived in Minneapolis for 54 years. Until 6 years ago I lived on the south side. I now, by choice, live on the north side not far from N......more

This is an incredibly important book for our times as our communities are looking at policing and racial issues. Charles is so open and honest about his experience with the inner workings of the Minneapolis Police Department, including his training experience and the inner culture that has resulted......more

Goodreads review by Sue

An MPD memoir written by a Black officer who served in North Mpls and left the department shortly after the Floyd incident & riots. Gave me a different perspective and also confirmed how officers were trained. Interestingly he doesn’t believe the MPD is racist and he supports the department.......more