June 14, 2024 • 30 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, it all went down in the city of Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 2006. Andrew Collins was a narcotics officer. Jameel McGee was a new father of a baby boy. This is a story about forgiveness, brokenness, and true reconciliation from two guys who should have been hardened, bitter enemies.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. It all went
down to the city of Benton Harbor, Michigan, in two
thousand and six. Andrew Collins was an narcotics officer. Jamel
McGee was a new father of a baby boy. This
is a story about forgiveness, brokenness, and true reconciliation from
two guys who should have been hardened bitter enemies. Without
(00:34):
any further ado, let's hear how Andrew and Jammel's unlikely
stories intersect.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Starting with Jammel.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
February eighth, two thousand and six was the day that
forever changed my life.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
February eighth, two thousand and six really just another day
for me.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
All I wanted to do was go to the store
and get some milk for my son.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
All I wanted on that day was another conviction.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
So I caught a ride from some guys that I
knew there probably would be up to no good.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I had caught a guy with some crack. He knew
a guy with some more crack, so he made a
phone call.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So we get to the store and this guy asked
me to use the phone. At the time, I didn't
think anything of it, so I gave him my phone.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
So I get to the store and I see the vehicle,
just like I was told. One guy in the vehicle
and another guy comes out of the store. I'm not
sure if he has something to do with it, but
I'm gonna make sure he has something to do with it.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So I'm coming out of the store and this guy's
approaching me talking about he's a cop. Where's the dope.
I'm like, what dope? I don't have any dope.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I ain't got no dope. It ain't my dope. How
many times have I heard this before? That's what everybody says.
So I had him lock them up.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
How could I be going to jail for some drugs
that is in mine? How is this possible trial?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
He's going to take it to trial the way that
I wrote that report, He's gonna take it to trial.
I would have wasted my time.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Well, I wasn't about to plead guilty to something that
I know I didn't do.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
So I told my story and I got my conviction,
and Jamal McGee was sentenced to ten years in federal prison. So, Jamal,
could you share with us what it was like sitting
in jail, sitting in prison knowing you had ten years
over your head.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
It was rough, it was painful. I became a different person.
I became very bitter, very angry, I mean frustrated. I
can't figure out why am I sitting here? Why am
I in prison? I ain't do nothing? Why am I here?
(02:44):
So with that, I became unapproachable. You couldn't talk to me.
I wouldn't talk to you. It don't matter who you was.
I just didn't have no words for nobody. And then
if you try to talk to me, that's when the
problem came in. I want to fight at that point.
So in prison, I'm sitting in prison, I'm just going
(03:07):
through the motions. I'm acting out on everything I wanted
to do to Andrew. I'm doing it to other people.
So hurt people, hurt people. Okay, So I sit there
and not knowing, not caring as I was hurting other
(03:29):
people because I was hurt. I felt like I had
lost everything. There was nothing else that mattered at this point.
So my attitude was I don't care. So sitting in
prison some why it's really rough. I was becoming the
(03:50):
person you didn't want to even come across. Then I
had to awakening like I needed something different. I need
to do something different with my life because everything I've
done in my life, I find myself in these very situations.
(04:11):
So this one day, three years into my sentence, it's
a Bible sitting there on my desk, on my table.
It's been there the whole time, never looked at it.
Gave my life over to Christ at age eighteen, then
again at twenty one because at eighteen I did it
for my mom because I wanted it off my back.
So at age twenty one I really got the grass
(04:34):
of I need a relationship with Jesus myself. So I
did that. But this time when I went to jail,
I was like, you know what, I'm not gonna lean
on God for this because I did that all my
other times. And this is clear, it's in black and white.
I should be able to just present this or say
this and I can get out of here. That wasn't
(04:56):
the case. I had no voice. Nothing I said matter
at all, period. So I'm still sitting here, frustrated. Man
to the Bible sitting here on my table. I grat
a Bible today. I just said, you know, I'm reading
the Bible today. Grat a Bible. Started the first five
versions of Genesis, and then my mind just went blank
(05:17):
and I was just hit with this message of let
it go, let it go, let it go. And if
you'll familiar, at this time, Frozen was not out yet,
so I have I had no idea what this song
was coming well, what is thought? This words? Where it
was coming from? And I wrestled with that, like no,
(05:40):
this was done to me, like this is my hurt,
Like I need to avenge that, I need to take
care of that. I want to put my hands on him.
I want to be the one to say I took
care of that. So that was my goal. So whenever
I got home was to find him and hurt him.
That was my goal. So it didn't matter when I
(06:01):
was gonna do it. So after battling with these thoughts,
I'm getting headaches trying to block it out, okay, because
I don't want to hear them. I'm trying to put
something else in my head to get this thought out
of my head. So later on, I go out and
walk on the yard and I'm walking around the circle
(06:22):
and I just begin to reflect on my life. You
know what I'm saying as a whole as far as
I can remember, and I quickly realized that every situation
I had a choice before it even happened. I had
a choice, but I chose the more convenient, easy way
(06:44):
every time, which led me to foster care, juvenile, the links,
the boys' homes, the prisons, the jails. My decisions led
me there. So I'm like, you know what, God, it's
your way. I'm tired of being in my way. I'm
(07:06):
tired of this. My way hasn't worked all these years,
so I need something different. So I kept walking on
the track and I'm just like, you know what. I
got to change. I got to change my life. I
got a sign. I want to see him. I want
to be able to raise him. I want to be
a part of his life. So I got to do
something different with mine. So I get back to my
(07:28):
cell and I prayed before I went to sleep, and
I was like, you know what, God, I want to
wake up tomorrow as if I'm at home. So I
want to live every day after this as if I'm
at home. So I got up that morning. My first
thing to do was speak to somebody, which was very
hard for me to do. And I came out and
(07:49):
I was just like, all right, Hey, first person I saw, Hey,
how you doing? They looking at me like this, dude
is crazy. It was this, but I didn't at that
point what nobody thought, because I said I was gonna
go through with this. I'm gonna I'm gonna adapt this
change into my life. I'm gonna do something different, and boom.
(08:11):
I started building more relationships, started talking to people, you know,
people was getting to know me, and then they was
asking me question like man, what was so messed up
with you all that many months and years ago. I
wouldn't talk about that part because everybody that goes to
prison says there and it's said yes. So I didn't
(08:32):
want to be a part of that. So I was like, nope,
just brush that part off. So this one of this day,
I go to work this one morning, and the people
were calling me soon as I got to work, and
I'm like, my attitude was still kind of jacked up.
So I'm like, if you want me, you got to
(08:53):
come get me. So I got off work and when
I got to you and the guy was at the
door and was like, hey, you know what, they've been
calling you all day, Probably go see what they want.
The first thing I thought of was like, man, I'm
probably gonna go to the whole now for some stuff
out and did previously and I was like, well, kind
of facing me as it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And you're listening to Trammel McGhee tell his story. Thrown
in prison for a crime he didn't commit, set up
by an officer, Andrew Collins. He tries doing it one way,
the hard way, filled with anger and bitterness, and then
one day he said, I had an awakening. I needed
to do something different in my life. Their story continues,
(09:35):
a crooked cop, an innocent man, and an unlikely journey
of forgiveness and friendship. Here on our American stories. And
(10:09):
we continue with our American stories, and we've been listening
to Jamel McGhee having served three years of his ten
year sentence, a conviction that was based on a setup by.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
A crooked cop, Andrew Collins.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Even though Jamel was innocent, he came to the conclusion
that it was his bad choices in his life that
had put him in this terrible situation.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
So he decided well to do something different with his life.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
He decided to follow God. Here again is Jammel and Andrew.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
So I go to the council office, and he was like, hey,
where would you go if you was released today, tomorrow
or six months from now. And I'm like, hmm, probably
my grandma house. He's like, I need address. Gave him
to address and he was like, well, you got fifteen
minutes to leave, and I was like, I can leave
(11:04):
out of office right now. I didn't actually come in here,
and he was like no. The fax machine beated and
he handed me the paper and it was a letter
from the judge saying my conviction was overturned and I
had to lead the premises immediately, me letting that anger,
that frustration go, God opened the door for me to go.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
So there was some things going on with my life
at that time. I had given my life to Christ
at age seven. In the back of the church, my uncle,
who's only three years older than me, led me to
the Lord. I just didn't understand what the heck it meant.
Thank you Jesus. So I went about my business as
a high schooler, as a teenager, as a police officer.
The more I was a police officer, the more wrong
(11:53):
things I did. The more wrong things I did, the
less I felt bad about them. It's a funny thing
about integrity like that, the more you do the wrong things,
the less you like it's wrong. So February of two
thousand and eight, I get caught with crack, heroin and
marijuana in my office, and in one day my life crumbled.
All the money that I was making legally and illegally gone,
(12:17):
Friends that I had built, friends who I thought would
be there for a lifetime. Nobody knows a police officer
like a police officer, y'all. Are my boys gone because
they were worried about their careers. Rightly so my family.
Having to see my wife's face when I was trying
to explain to her that I just lost my job
the day before, I was top cop in the county.
I was a big deal, especially in my own mind,
(12:40):
and in a day it was gone. So I went
on a three day journey. Day one got caught. Day
two thought about suicide. There's no way I can get
out of this. Day three went saw a pastor because
on day two my wife came home from work and
saw that I was depressed and said, you need to
go talk to that pastor that you've been going to,
because see that whole being a Christian thing is a
youth God wouldn't leave me. So I called that pastor
(13:02):
up and I said, I got to talk to you. Said, yeah,
you do, I've seen the news. So I said, down
with him, and I tell him I confessed everything. It
felt so good to get it out of me, to
finally admit what I had done wrong. And he listened
patiently and he said, oo, boy, you're in trouble. I
remember thinking like you, sir, are a terrible counselor. Like
(13:26):
I know, I'm in trouble. What do I do now?
And he said, where are you at with Jesus? I'm
thinking what I just told you. Where I'm at with Jesus.
I am a terrible person. Man. I don't deserve him.
And he said, none of us do. That's the beauty
of grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. He paid it.
You don't have to. He said, Andrew, you accepted Jesus
(13:47):
as your savior, You've accepted the whole time that he
saved you from your sins, but you've never let him
be your lord. Do you want that lordship? I said,
I do, Man, I do. This is my lordship. Twenty
five years old, in your cry and thinking about suicide.
He said, let's pray. So we melt down there in
his office and he prayed, because I felt like if
I talked to God he'd strike me dead right there.
(14:09):
I still couldn't wrap my mind around grace. And he
prayed for me that God would become that Jesus would
become my lord. We said amen. I was balling, and
I said, what do I do next? Man, I'm a man.
There's like a list. There's got to be a list
of things I can do, because that's how men operate.
List Give me a listen, I'll check off the boxes.
He said, read your Bible. That's it. Get to know
your Lord. I was like, I don't know if you
(14:31):
ever read that thing, Pastor, but it's kind of boring.
He's like, no, man, God did something in you today.
And he gave me a Bible that was a little
easier to read for me from what I grew up in.
And I started reading. I was blown away at all
the little bombs that were going off in my soul
about Jesus dealing with people that were just as jacked
up or even worse than me. And the longer I
was away from police work, the less I felt bad.
(14:53):
I got caught, and the more I felt bad for
what I had done. It's a difference, y'all. So I
went to the FBI and I said, look, I want
to right my wrongs. There's some things that need to
be reconciled. So I sat down. They put a stack
of reports in front of me, and they said, we
need you to look through all these reports and we
need to tell you. We need you to tell us
(15:14):
which ones are bad. Highlight the ones that are bad.
And I said, honestly, out of these two hundred cases,
would be easier to highlight the ones that are good.
My corruption ran deep, and I started working it out,
one case at a time, one case at a time,
one case at a time, and one of those cases
was Jamel McGhee. I opened it up and I said,
that's a bad case. It's a bad case. So because
(15:37):
I gave my life to the Lord and because I
did the right things, all my problems went a wig
and I've never had another problem since then. No, that's
not what happened. I still had to go to prison, y'all.
So January nine, I plead guilty. I go to jail.
February oh nine, Jamel gets out. It's like tag Team.
I mean, you're out switch, but the story don't stop there.
(16:00):
In twenty ten August, I get out. I'm passionate about
Ben Harbor. I feel like guy's calling me back to
the community. So I reach out to a pastor of
a local church up there and he says, we're having
this thing in August of eleven called Hoops, Hip Hop
and Hot Dogs H three outreach event. We want you
to be a part of it. So I said, I
want to be a part of that. So I'm standing
(16:20):
in Broadway Park like, okay, where are the people that
I need to be reconciled with? Bring him Lord? And
then all of a sudden, I see this man coming
at me like he wasn't he was coming at me.
He wasn't running, but he was coming at me. And
he reaches out his hand and it looks like you
want to shake my hand. I'm thinking, oh, cool, reconciliation.
He said, you remember my name, and then he squeezed
(16:41):
extremely tightly. I said, Jamal McGee, and he squeezed even harder.
I got the answer right, And I don't know y'all
can He's got big hands. He ain't letting go. If
you don't want to let go. And he looks down
at his son. He said, I want you to tell
my son why he missed out on all them years
of his daddy's life. I wished he to hit me,
(17:03):
hit a hurt worse, hurt a hurt less. I said, look, man,
there's nothing I can do to make up for what
I did, but I'm sorry. I offer you my apology.
He didn't say anything. Could see the little muscle in
his jaw clenching. I said, you know what, I'm I
got my daughter here at the park too. I know, hey,
you know what, maybe this will help. I know what
(17:23):
it's like to be away from my daughter too, because
I spent eighteen months in prison. And he said I
don't give a what you had to go through, and
I was like, that was the wrong thing to say.
I was glad he could speak, but then I was like,
oh shoot, because what I did is I took everything
away that I had just said. I just made all
these apologies and then I just basically took it right away.
(17:45):
That's basically saying, yes, there's a problem, but everybody goes
through problems, so it doesn't really matter that much. I'm
about to get on a tangent Jammel, what was that
day like for you in the park?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I call that the test, because that day was it
was a test. I got out, I got to meet
my son for the first time, and he wanted to
go to this park. He's seen a lot of people
standing out there. I'm an introverted person, so that was
not going to happen for me. So I'm like, uh,
(18:24):
and he was like, yeah, I want to go over there.
So I didn't want to disappoint him, so I'm like,
all right, come on, let's go. And I said to myself,
I'm just stay on the sidewalk and let him run
through the park. And walking down the sidewalk, I'm like,
I thought i'd seen Andrew and up under the pavilion.
I'm like, no, they can't be him, not in Broadway Park,
(18:44):
not at this park. This park usually do end well
when it's a lot of people out here, and I
know they just can't be him right there. And he
turned around and I'm like, yeah, that's him in my mind.
The first thing that pop that was kidd And.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You've been listening to Andrew Collins and Jamel McGee tell
the story of how their lives intersected it, and my goodness,
the test is what Jammel called it. When we come back,
their story continues, a crooked cop, an innocent man, and
an unlikely journey of forgiveness and friendship. Here on our
(19:24):
American stories, and we returned to our American stories. Jamel
McGee spent three years in federal prison, and on a
(19:44):
day went by that he didn't think about his son
we had never seen, and the crooked cop who had
kept Jammel from seeing him for most of those three years.
Jammel writes in his book Convicted, I promised myself that
if I ever saw this cop again, I was going
to kill him. I intended to keep that promise. Here's
Jamaal and Andrew, picking up with the moment the two
(20:06):
saw each other for the first time in a park
back home. Here's Jamal in my mind.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
The first thing that popped up was get him, get him.
Now he's here, he's in front of you. All that
that I was feeling in the prison was back on
my shoulders, everything, and now he's in my face and
I'm like, oh, yeah, it's time, let's get him. So
I go over there and be lying stuck on my hands.
(20:36):
I said, hey, you remember me, and he said yeah.
When he said it, I squeezed him, and in my
mind was two things. It was myself again telling me
to hit him. Hit him. What are you waiting on?
You're taking too long? Hit him? Then God was like hey.
(21:00):
God was like, hey, I got this. Get out of
my way. I got this, step out of my way.
Let me avenge this for you. I got this. I
can do far more than you ever can. So I'm like, hmm,
hit him, hit him.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
And my son was right there, and I was just like,
just explain to my son why I missed out on
these years of his life, because.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
I'm having a hard time doing it. And I was like,
I didn't do something first that the world everybody thought
and knew that I probably was going to do. Anyway,
I didn't do it, and I let him go and
(21:56):
I walked away, and each step I walked away, I
felt lighter. I felt better me too. And the closer
I got to the curve, I begin to think, Man,
that's over. What I'm gonna lead that to God where
it was supposed to be. I can't do nothing about
(22:18):
it anyway, forget it. I'll never see him again. Anyway,
there you go. I still see him. But after that,
I saw him every day. I could leave the store
or be walking down the street or riding down the
street on my bike, and I would see him everywhere
I went. And I'm like, man, God, was I supposed
(22:41):
to do something to him? Like, I don't know what
was Why am I seeing him so much? And I
found that out later four years.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Yeah, yeah, So I picked back up and I'm gonna,
I'm a I'm gonna basically, we're gonna give you five years,
four years, whatever it was. There's four years of history
in nine minutes and forty six seconds. Ready, strap in
your seatbelts. So I start working for this place called
the Mosaic CCDA Christian Community Development Association Association. It has
three social enterprises, a cafe, a resale store, and a
(23:14):
full scale long care company. Cafe Mosaic. If you all
have ever been there, downtown Bent and Harbor a great
place they will get a coffee. So I'm working there
as the cafe manager in Bent Harbor, having reconciliation stories
with people, feeling like God has called me that this
is great, this is awesome. There's another part of the program,
called Jobs for Life where people from the community. Maybe
they've got felonies on their record, maybe they've never had
(23:36):
a job before, and they need a little bit of
hand up. They don't need a hand out, they need
a hand up because they want to do something with
their life. They graduate Jobs for Life and then they
either get absorbed into one of our social enterprises or
they went out and got jobs with a community people
that we had made contact with. Everybody in Jobs for Life,
every student ended up with a mentor anybody putting two
(23:57):
and two together. Yet one day Miss prince Ella comes
down because she runs Josh for Life. She says, Hey,
there's this guy in my class called Zuki. Do you
know Zuki. I want to introduce you guys to my
friend Zuki. I said, no, I know the street now,
I've heard it, but I don't think I know him personally.
I don't think we ever met. Would you be his mentor?
God is later on my heart that you should be
(24:18):
his mentor. God's funny, right, So I said, you know
my story, Miss p you know what I've done in
the city. I don't know if I've affected his family.
Why don't you go ask him what he thinks about it.
So Jamel, in two minutes or less, what did that
conversation sound like?
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah? It was like she came over and I was
sitting in class. Everybody had a mentor, and she was like, yeah,
we finally got your mentor. She was like, yeah, God
is later than on herd for you two guys to
be mentored. Mintee and I don't know if you guys
had any history together, but yeah, I think you guys
should be mentoring. I'm like, okay, get on with it.
(24:58):
Who is it? And she's it's like Andrew Collins and
I'm like, no, no way, there's no way I'm doing that.
And she was like, okay, fine, we'll get you somebody else.
And I'm like, wait a minute, m's p that was
my decision. Let me pray on that real fast, because
I don't want no more of my decisions to affect
(25:21):
my life. That's just my decision. So I wanted to
be God's decision. So I prayed and I opened my
eyes and there was a book on my desk and
there was two figures on a mountain that was written
in words, and it was one pulling the other one up.
I was like, all right, God, you got it. So
it's evident this is what you want, this is the
(25:43):
path you want me to take. I'm gonna take it.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
So he comes walking through the cafe doors. I'm like
an hour and a half later, Hey, Jamal, come on,
have a seat. So we sit down and say, hey,
I used to be a police officer in City Ben Harbor.
I did some awful things. If I've ever harmed you
or your family, can you let me know to apologize
for it? And he's smiling at me the whole time,
like what does this do? Smiling? This ain't funny. I'm
trying to be serious, and I said so. Once I
got done with my little spiel, I said, look, man,
what's so funny? And he just shook the head. He said, man,
(26:09):
we already had this talk. I said we did. He
said yeah, Broadway Park and I was instantly flashed back
to that moment in the park and I was like,
oh shoot, because I'm a Christian now and I just
went to apologize and dude, I am so sorry. I
felt like God gave me a second chance. I'm so sorry.
He said, I know, and he was like offended. I know.
(26:32):
I said, dude, there's got to be something I can do. He'said, no,
it's over. It's over. You were sorry then, and I
trusted that, and I know you are now. You don't
have to say it anymore. It's forgiven. It's done. I
was like, dude, can we can we do this mentor thing?
He said, I think God wants us to. I think
God set this up. I said, man, this is this
is blowing my mind. Dude, like four minutes ago, I'm
(26:54):
making chocolate chip cookies and now this like this is this?
Can we pray? He's like, let's pray. So we bought
our heads right there and we prayed. The guy would
bless this friendship. The God would make basically beauty for
ashes that we give doing our ashes. He gives us
back a crown of beauty. And we prayed that and
he got up. We said amen. He got up and
(27:14):
walked out because he had an appointment to get to.
And I went to the back and cried like a
child because I felt forgiven. And then I was We
were meeting every week and I was like, yo, bro,
we need an employee in the cafe, and you need
a job.
Speaker 6 (27:27):
Are you do you need a job? He's like, yeah,
I need a job. You know, I need a job.
I said, well, how about this, because what if I
hire you? Or what if we hire you? And you'd
be and are you a good worker?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Be cause if I've got to write you up, things
are already tense enough, you know, like ah, and he
did that. He'd just smiling his dude smile. He was like,
it breaks down all board. He's like, nah, man, I
got you, I got you. And he started working. He
was the best worker I had ever seen. I worked
so hard. I've never seen so many work so hard
in that cafe. So every day I say thank you, Jamal,
(27:59):
thank you so much for putting your all into this,
and this is amazing. Thank you. Do you want to
hit me? He'd be like what. I'd be like, I
just want to check. I just want to make sure
because I don't want to be at the cash er
this to someday and then just get your big old
I want to make sure I know it's coming. If
it's coming, He's like, no, bro, no, we're good. And
now it's like every three or four months, I'll ask
(28:20):
him while we're on a plane or something, Hey we're
still good. Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Good?
Speaker 4 (28:23):
All right, and listen y'all. We're finding out some stuff
about reconciliation as we walk this thing out, because I
don't know if y'all notice it or not.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
But I'm white.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
I mean, I'm a little darker skin the most, but
I am white and he's black. We get this, We
get that this speaks to our nation right now, and
we don't think we have all the answers, but we
think we have a piece of it. And the piece
we think that we're holding on to right now is reconciliation.
We met a woman who said who came down front, said, look, guys,
I just need you to help me pray because I
(28:53):
just need to forgive my mom. She hurt me so
bad eighteen years ago, and I'm understanding that I'm starting
to treat my the way she was treating me because
I'm holding on to this. And we were like, yeah, yeah,
where's she at. Bring her down. Let's get her down
here wall pray together. She's been dead for eighteen years.
She was holding on harboring that unforgiveness for eighteen years
(29:15):
and the person couldn't do anything about it. So apology forgiveness,
But that's only two pieces for reconciliation. You got to
come together. The more I get to know this man,
the more I love him as an individual, the more
I love him as a person, not as a black man,
but as a man.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And a terrific job on the production and storytelling by
Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to Andrew Collins and
Jamel McGee for sharing their remarkable journey. And also a
special thanks to Torres Montgomery for sharing the audio of
this remarkable story.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And what a story.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Indeed about big things like forgiveness and reconciliation, and what
a stud Jamel is, what a man?
Speaker 2 (29:57):
The story of So.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Much here about God, about faith, about forgiveness, and ultimately
about racial reconciliation and real human reconciliation. The story of
a crooked cop, an innocent man, and an unlikely journey
of forgiveness and friendship.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. It all went
down to the city of Benton Harbor, Michigan, in two
thousand and six. Andrew Collins was an narcotics officer. Jamel
McGee was a new father of a baby boy. This
is a story about forgiveness, brokenness, and true reconciliation from
two guys who should have been hardened bitter enemies. Without
(00:34):
any further ado, let's hear how Andrew and Jammel's unlikely
stories intersect.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Starting with Jammel.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
February eighth, two thousand and six was the day that
forever changed my life.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
February eighth, two thousand and six really just another day
for me.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
All I wanted to do was go to the store
and get some milk for my son.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
All I wanted on that day was another conviction.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
So I caught a ride from some guys that I
knew there probably would be up to no good.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I had caught a guy with some crack. He knew
a guy with some more crack, so he made a
phone call.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So we get to the store and this guy asked
me to use the phone. At the time, I didn't
think anything of it, so I gave him my phone.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
So I get to the store and I see the vehicle,
just like I was told. One guy in the vehicle
and another guy comes out of the store. I'm not
sure if he has something to do with it, but
I'm gonna make sure he has something to do with it.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So I'm coming out of the store and this guy's
approaching me talking about he's a cop. Where's the dope.
I'm like, what dope? I don't have any dope.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I ain't got no dope. It ain't my dope. How
many times have I heard this before? That's what everybody says.
So I had him lock them up.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
How could I be going to jail for some drugs
that is in mine? How is this possible trial?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
He's going to take it to trial the way that
I wrote that report, He's gonna take it to trial.
I would have wasted my time.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Well, I wasn't about to plead guilty to something that
I know I didn't do.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
So I told my story and I got my conviction,
and Jamal McGee was sentenced to ten years in federal prison. So, Jamal,
could you share with us what it was like sitting
in jail, sitting in prison knowing you had ten years
over your head.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
It was rough, it was painful. I became a different person.
I became very bitter, very angry, I mean frustrated. I
can't figure out why am I sitting here? Why am
I in prison? I ain't do nothing? Why am I here?
(02:44):
So with that, I became unapproachable. You couldn't talk to me.
I wouldn't talk to you. It don't matter who you was.
I just didn't have no words for nobody. And then
if you try to talk to me, that's when the
problem came in. I want to fight at that point.
So in prison, I'm sitting in prison, I'm just going
(03:07):
through the motions. I'm acting out on everything I wanted
to do to Andrew. I'm doing it to other people.
So hurt people, hurt people. Okay, So I sit there
and not knowing, not caring as I was hurting other
(03:29):
people because I was hurt. I felt like I had
lost everything. There was nothing else that mattered at this point.
So my attitude was I don't care. So sitting in
prison some why it's really rough. I was becoming the
(03:50):
person you didn't want to even come across. Then I
had to awakening like I needed something different. I need
to do something different with my life because everything I've
done in my life, I find myself in these very situations.
(04:11):
So this one day, three years into my sentence, it's
a Bible sitting there on my desk, on my table.
It's been there the whole time, never looked at it.
Gave my life over to Christ at age eighteen, then
again at twenty one because at eighteen I did it
for my mom because I wanted it off my back.
So at age twenty one I really got the grass
(04:34):
of I need a relationship with Jesus myself. So I
did that. But this time when I went to jail,
I was like, you know what, I'm not gonna lean
on God for this because I did that all my
other times. And this is clear, it's in black and white.
I should be able to just present this or say
this and I can get out of here. That wasn't
(04:56):
the case. I had no voice. Nothing I said matter
at all, period. So I'm still sitting here, frustrated. Man
to the Bible sitting here on my table. I grat
a Bible today. I just said, you know, I'm reading
the Bible today. Grat a Bible. Started the first five
versions of Genesis, and then my mind just went blank
(05:17):
and I was just hit with this message of let
it go, let it go, let it go. And if
you'll familiar, at this time, Frozen was not out yet,
so I have I had no idea what this song
was coming well, what is thought? This words? Where it
was coming from? And I wrestled with that, like no,
(05:40):
this was done to me, like this is my hurt,
Like I need to avenge that, I need to take
care of that. I want to put my hands on him.
I want to be the one to say I took
care of that. So that was my goal. So whenever
I got home was to find him and hurt him.
That was my goal. So it didn't matter when I
(06:01):
was gonna do it. So after battling with these thoughts,
I'm getting headaches trying to block it out, okay, because
I don't want to hear them. I'm trying to put
something else in my head to get this thought out
of my head. So later on, I go out and
walk on the yard and I'm walking around the circle
(06:22):
and I just begin to reflect on my life. You
know what I'm saying as a whole as far as
I can remember, and I quickly realized that every situation
I had a choice before it even happened. I had
a choice, but I chose the more convenient, easy way
(06:44):
every time, which led me to foster care, juvenile, the links,
the boys' homes, the prisons, the jails. My decisions led
me there. So I'm like, you know what, God, it's
your way. I'm tired of being in my way. I'm
(07:06):
tired of this. My way hasn't worked all these years,
so I need something different. So I kept walking on
the track and I'm just like, you know what. I
got to change. I got to change my life. I
got a sign. I want to see him. I want
to be able to raise him. I want to be
a part of his life. So I got to do
something different with mine. So I get back to my
(07:28):
cell and I prayed before I went to sleep, and
I was like, you know what, God, I want to
wake up tomorrow as if I'm at home. So I
want to live every day after this as if I'm
at home. So I got up that morning. My first
thing to do was speak to somebody, which was very
hard for me to do. And I came out and
(07:49):
I was just like, all right, Hey, first person I saw, Hey,
how you doing? They looking at me like this, dude
is crazy. It was this, but I didn't at that
point what nobody thought, because I said I was gonna
go through with this. I'm gonna I'm gonna adapt this
change into my life. I'm gonna do something different, and boom.
(08:11):
I started building more relationships, started talking to people, you know,
people was getting to know me, and then they was
asking me question like man, what was so messed up
with you all that many months and years ago. I
wouldn't talk about that part because everybody that goes to
prison says there and it's said yes. So I didn't
(08:32):
want to be a part of that. So I was like, nope,
just brush that part off. So this one of this day,
I go to work this one morning, and the people
were calling me soon as I got to work, and
I'm like, my attitude was still kind of jacked up.
So I'm like, if you want me, you got to
(08:53):
come get me. So I got off work and when
I got to you and the guy was at the
door and was like, hey, you know what, they've been
calling you all day, Probably go see what they want.
The first thing I thought of was like, man, I'm
probably gonna go to the whole now for some stuff
out and did previously and I was like, well, kind
of facing me as it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And you're listening to Trammel McGhee tell his story. Thrown
in prison for a crime he didn't commit, set up
by an officer, Andrew Collins. He tries doing it one way,
the hard way, filled with anger and bitterness, and then
one day he said, I had an awakening. I needed
to do something different in my life. Their story continues,
(09:35):
a crooked cop, an innocent man, and an unlikely journey
of forgiveness and friendship. Here on our American stories. And
(10:09):
we continue with our American stories, and we've been listening
to Jamel McGhee having served three years of his ten
year sentence, a conviction that was based on a setup by.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
A crooked cop, Andrew Collins.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Even though Jamel was innocent, he came to the conclusion
that it was his bad choices in his life that
had put him in this terrible situation.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
So he decided well to do something different with his life.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
He decided to follow God. Here again is Jammel and Andrew.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
So I go to the council office, and he was like, hey,
where would you go if you was released today, tomorrow
or six months from now. And I'm like, hmm, probably
my grandma house. He's like, I need address. Gave him
to address and he was like, well, you got fifteen
minutes to leave, and I was like, I can leave
(11:04):
out of office right now. I didn't actually come in here,
and he was like no. The fax machine beated and
he handed me the paper and it was a letter
from the judge saying my conviction was overturned and I
had to lead the premises immediately, me letting that anger,
that frustration go, God opened the door for me to go.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
So there was some things going on with my life
at that time. I had given my life to Christ
at age seven. In the back of the church, my uncle,
who's only three years older than me, led me to
the Lord. I just didn't understand what the heck it meant.
Thank you Jesus. So I went about my business as
a high schooler, as a teenager, as a police officer.
The more I was a police officer, the more wrong
(11:53):
things I did. The more wrong things I did, the
less I felt bad about them. It's a funny thing
about integrity like that, the more you do the wrong things,
the less you like it's wrong. So February of two
thousand and eight, I get caught with crack, heroin and
marijuana in my office, and in one day my life crumbled.
All the money that I was making legally and illegally gone,
(12:17):
Friends that I had built, friends who I thought would
be there for a lifetime. Nobody knows a police officer
like a police officer, y'all. Are my boys gone because
they were worried about their careers. Rightly so my family.
Having to see my wife's face when I was trying
to explain to her that I just lost my job
the day before, I was top cop in the county.
I was a big deal, especially in my own mind,
(12:40):
and in a day it was gone. So I went
on a three day journey. Day one got caught. Day
two thought about suicide. There's no way I can get
out of this. Day three went saw a pastor because
on day two my wife came home from work and
saw that I was depressed and said, you need to
go talk to that pastor that you've been going to,
because see that whole being a Christian thing is a
youth God wouldn't leave me. So I called that pastor
(13:02):
up and I said, I got to talk to you. Said, yeah,
you do, I've seen the news. So I said, down
with him, and I tell him I confessed everything. It
felt so good to get it out of me, to
finally admit what I had done wrong. And he listened
patiently and he said, oo, boy, you're in trouble. I
remember thinking like you, sir, are a terrible counselor. Like
(13:26):
I know, I'm in trouble. What do I do now?
And he said, where are you at with Jesus? I'm
thinking what I just told you. Where I'm at with Jesus.
I am a terrible person. Man. I don't deserve him.
And he said, none of us do. That's the beauty
of grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. He paid it.
You don't have to. He said, Andrew, you accepted Jesus
(13:47):
as your savior, You've accepted the whole time that he
saved you from your sins, but you've never let him
be your lord. Do you want that lordship? I said,
I do, Man, I do. This is my lordship. Twenty
five years old, in your cry and thinking about suicide.
He said, let's pray. So we melt down there in
his office and he prayed, because I felt like if
I talked to God he'd strike me dead right there.
(14:09):
I still couldn't wrap my mind around grace. And he
prayed for me that God would become that Jesus would
become my lord. We said amen. I was balling, and
I said, what do I do next? Man, I'm a man.
There's like a list. There's got to be a list
of things I can do, because that's how men operate.
List Give me a listen, I'll check off the boxes.
He said, read your Bible. That's it. Get to know
your Lord. I was like, I don't know if you
(14:31):
ever read that thing, Pastor, but it's kind of boring.
He's like, no, man, God did something in you today.
And he gave me a Bible that was a little
easier to read for me from what I grew up in.
And I started reading. I was blown away at all
the little bombs that were going off in my soul
about Jesus dealing with people that were just as jacked
up or even worse than me. And the longer I
was away from police work, the less I felt bad.
(14:53):
I got caught, and the more I felt bad for
what I had done. It's a difference, y'all. So I
went to the FBI and I said, look, I want
to right my wrongs. There's some things that need to
be reconciled. So I sat down. They put a stack
of reports in front of me, and they said, we
need you to look through all these reports and we
need to tell you. We need you to tell us
(15:14):
which ones are bad. Highlight the ones that are bad.
And I said, honestly, out of these two hundred cases,
would be easier to highlight the ones that are good.
My corruption ran deep, and I started working it out,
one case at a time, one case at a time,
one case at a time, and one of those cases
was Jamel McGhee. I opened it up and I said,
that's a bad case. It's a bad case. So because
(15:37):
I gave my life to the Lord and because I
did the right things, all my problems went a wig
and I've never had another problem since then. No, that's
not what happened. I still had to go to prison, y'all.
So January nine, I plead guilty. I go to jail.
February oh nine, Jamel gets out. It's like tag Team.
I mean, you're out switch, but the story don't stop there.
(16:00):
In twenty ten August, I get out. I'm passionate about
Ben Harbor. I feel like guy's calling me back to
the community. So I reach out to a pastor of
a local church up there and he says, we're having
this thing in August of eleven called Hoops, Hip Hop
and Hot Dogs H three outreach event. We want you
to be a part of it. So I said, I
want to be a part of that. So I'm standing
(16:20):
in Broadway Park like, okay, where are the people that
I need to be reconciled with? Bring him Lord? And
then all of a sudden, I see this man coming
at me like he wasn't he was coming at me.
He wasn't running, but he was coming at me. And
he reaches out his hand and it looks like you
want to shake my hand. I'm thinking, oh, cool, reconciliation.
He said, you remember my name, and then he squeezed
(16:41):
extremely tightly. I said, Jamal McGee, and he squeezed even harder.
I got the answer right, And I don't know y'all
can He's got big hands. He ain't letting go. If
you don't want to let go. And he looks down
at his son. He said, I want you to tell
my son why he missed out on all them years
of his daddy's life. I wished he to hit me,
(17:03):
hit a hurt worse, hurt a hurt less. I said, look, man,
there's nothing I can do to make up for what
I did, but I'm sorry. I offer you my apology.
He didn't say anything. Could see the little muscle in
his jaw clenching. I said, you know what, I'm I
got my daughter here at the park too. I know, hey,
you know what, maybe this will help. I know what
(17:23):
it's like to be away from my daughter too, because
I spent eighteen months in prison. And he said I
don't give a what you had to go through, and
I was like, that was the wrong thing to say.
I was glad he could speak, but then I was like,
oh shoot, because what I did is I took everything
away that I had just said. I just made all
these apologies and then I just basically took it right away.
(17:45):
That's basically saying, yes, there's a problem, but everybody goes
through problems, so it doesn't really matter that much. I'm
about to get on a tangent Jammel, what was that
day like for you in the park?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I call that the test, because that day was it
was a test. I got out, I got to meet
my son for the first time, and he wanted to
go to this park. He's seen a lot of people
standing out there. I'm an introverted person, so that was
not going to happen for me. So I'm like, uh,
(18:24):
and he was like, yeah, I want to go over there.
So I didn't want to disappoint him, so I'm like,
all right, come on, let's go. And I said to myself,
I'm just stay on the sidewalk and let him run
through the park. And walking down the sidewalk, I'm like,
I thought i'd seen Andrew and up under the pavilion.
I'm like, no, they can't be him, not in Broadway Park,
(18:44):
not at this park. This park usually do end well
when it's a lot of people out here, and I
know they just can't be him right there. And he
turned around and I'm like, yeah, that's him in my mind.
The first thing that pop that was kidd And.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You've been listening to Andrew Collins and Jamel McGee tell
the story of how their lives intersected it, and my goodness,
the test is what Jammel called it. When we come back,
their story continues, a crooked cop, an innocent man, and
an unlikely journey of forgiveness and friendship. Here on our
(19:24):
American stories, and we returned to our American stories. Jamel
McGee spent three years in federal prison, and on a
(19:44):
day went by that he didn't think about his son
we had never seen, and the crooked cop who had
kept Jammel from seeing him for most of those three years.
Jammel writes in his book Convicted, I promised myself that
if I ever saw this cop again, I was going
to kill him. I intended to keep that promise. Here's
Jamaal and Andrew, picking up with the moment the two
(20:06):
saw each other for the first time in a park
back home. Here's Jamal in my mind.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
The first thing that popped up was get him, get him.
Now he's here, he's in front of you. All that
that I was feeling in the prison was back on
my shoulders, everything, and now he's in my face and
I'm like, oh, yeah, it's time, let's get him. So
I go over there and be lying stuck on my hands.
(20:36):
I said, hey, you remember me, and he said yeah.
When he said it, I squeezed him, and in my
mind was two things. It was myself again telling me
to hit him. Hit him. What are you waiting on?
You're taking too long? Hit him? Then God was like hey.
(21:00):
God was like, hey, I got this. Get out of
my way. I got this, step out of my way.
Let me avenge this for you. I got this. I
can do far more than you ever can. So I'm like, hmm,
hit him, hit him.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
And my son was right there, and I was just like,
just explain to my son why I missed out on
these years of his life, because.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
I'm having a hard time doing it. And I was like,
I didn't do something first that the world everybody thought
and knew that I probably was going to do. Anyway,
I didn't do it, and I let him go and
(21:56):
I walked away, and each step I walked away, I
felt lighter. I felt better me too. And the closer
I got to the curve, I begin to think, Man,
that's over. What I'm gonna lead that to God where
it was supposed to be. I can't do nothing about
(22:18):
it anyway, forget it. I'll never see him again. Anyway,
there you go. I still see him. But after that,
I saw him every day. I could leave the store
or be walking down the street or riding down the
street on my bike, and I would see him everywhere
I went. And I'm like, man, God, was I supposed
(22:41):
to do something to him? Like, I don't know what
was Why am I seeing him so much? And I
found that out later four years.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
Yeah, yeah, So I picked back up and I'm gonna,
I'm a I'm gonna basically, we're gonna give you five years,
four years, whatever it was. There's four years of history
in nine minutes and forty six seconds. Ready, strap in
your seatbelts. So I start working for this place called
the Mosaic CCDA Christian Community Development Association Association. It has
three social enterprises, a cafe, a resale store, and a
(23:14):
full scale long care company. Cafe Mosaic. If you all
have ever been there, downtown Bent and Harbor a great
place they will get a coffee. So I'm working there
as the cafe manager in Bent Harbor, having reconciliation stories
with people, feeling like God has called me that this
is great, this is awesome. There's another part of the program,
called Jobs for Life where people from the community. Maybe
they've got felonies on their record, maybe they've never had
(23:36):
a job before, and they need a little bit of
hand up. They don't need a hand out, they need
a hand up because they want to do something with
their life. They graduate Jobs for Life and then they
either get absorbed into one of our social enterprises or
they went out and got jobs with a community people
that we had made contact with. Everybody in Jobs for Life,
every student ended up with a mentor anybody putting two
(23:57):
and two together. Yet one day Miss prince Ella comes
down because she runs Josh for Life. She says, Hey,
there's this guy in my class called Zuki. Do you
know Zuki. I want to introduce you guys to my
friend Zuki. I said, no, I know the street now,
I've heard it, but I don't think I know him personally.
I don't think we ever met. Would you be his mentor?
God is later on my heart that you should be
(24:18):
his mentor. God's funny, right, So I said, you know
my story, Miss p you know what I've done in
the city. I don't know if I've affected his family.
Why don't you go ask him what he thinks about it.
So Jamel, in two minutes or less, what did that
conversation sound like?
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah? It was like she came over and I was
sitting in class. Everybody had a mentor, and she was like, yeah,
we finally got your mentor. She was like, yeah, God
is later than on herd for you two guys to
be mentored. Mintee and I don't know if you guys
had any history together, but yeah, I think you guys
should be mentoring. I'm like, okay, get on with it.
(24:58):
Who is it? And she's it's like Andrew Collins and
I'm like, no, no way, there's no way I'm doing that.
And she was like, okay, fine, we'll get you somebody else.
And I'm like, wait a minute, m's p that was
my decision. Let me pray on that real fast, because
I don't want no more of my decisions to affect
(25:21):
my life. That's just my decision. So I wanted to
be God's decision. So I prayed and I opened my
eyes and there was a book on my desk and
there was two figures on a mountain that was written
in words, and it was one pulling the other one up.
I was like, all right, God, you got it. So
it's evident this is what you want, this is the
(25:43):
path you want me to take. I'm gonna take it.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
So he comes walking through the cafe doors. I'm like
an hour and a half later, Hey, Jamal, come on,
have a seat. So we sit down and say, hey,
I used to be a police officer in City Ben Harbor.
I did some awful things. If I've ever harmed you
or your family, can you let me know to apologize
for it? And he's smiling at me the whole time,
like what does this do? Smiling? This ain't funny. I'm
trying to be serious, and I said so. Once I
got done with my little spiel, I said, look, man,
what's so funny? And he just shook the head. He said, man,
(26:09):
we already had this talk. I said we did. He
said yeah, Broadway Park and I was instantly flashed back
to that moment in the park and I was like,
oh shoot, because I'm a Christian now and I just
went to apologize and dude, I am so sorry. I
felt like God gave me a second chance. I'm so sorry.
He said, I know, and he was like offended. I know.
(26:32):
I said, dude, there's got to be something I can do. He'said, no,
it's over. It's over. You were sorry then, and I
trusted that, and I know you are now. You don't
have to say it anymore. It's forgiven. It's done. I
was like, dude, can we can we do this mentor thing?
He said, I think God wants us to. I think
God set this up. I said, man, this is this
is blowing my mind. Dude, like four minutes ago, I'm
(26:54):
making chocolate chip cookies and now this like this is this?
Can we pray? He's like, let's pray. So we bought
our heads right there and we prayed. The guy would
bless this friendship. The God would make basically beauty for
ashes that we give doing our ashes. He gives us
back a crown of beauty. And we prayed that and
he got up. We said amen. He got up and
(27:14):
walked out because he had an appointment to get to.
And I went to the back and cried like a
child because I felt forgiven. And then I was We
were meeting every week and I was like, yo, bro,
we need an employee in the cafe, and you need
a job.
Speaker 6 (27:27):
Are you do you need a job? He's like, yeah,
I need a job. You know, I need a job.
I said, well, how about this, because what if I
hire you? Or what if we hire you? And you'd
be and are you a good worker?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Be cause if I've got to write you up, things
are already tense enough, you know, like ah, and he
did that. He'd just smiling his dude smile. He was like,
it breaks down all board. He's like, nah, man, I
got you, I got you. And he started working. He
was the best worker I had ever seen. I worked
so hard. I've never seen so many work so hard
in that cafe. So every day I say thank you, Jamal,
(27:59):
thank you so much for putting your all into this,
and this is amazing. Thank you. Do you want to
hit me? He'd be like what. I'd be like, I
just want to check. I just want to make sure
because I don't want to be at the cash er
this to someday and then just get your big old
I want to make sure I know it's coming. If
it's coming, He's like, no, bro, no, we're good. And
now it's like every three or four months, I'll ask
(28:20):
him while we're on a plane or something, Hey we're
still good. Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Good?
Speaker 4 (28:23):
All right, and listen y'all. We're finding out some stuff
about reconciliation as we walk this thing out, because I
don't know if y'all notice it or not.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
But I'm white.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
I mean, I'm a little darker skin the most, but
I am white and he's black. We get this, We
get that this speaks to our nation right now, and
we don't think we have all the answers, but we
think we have a piece of it. And the piece
we think that we're holding on to right now is reconciliation.
We met a woman who said who came down front, said, look, guys,
I just need you to help me pray because I
(28:53):
just need to forgive my mom. She hurt me so
bad eighteen years ago, and I'm understanding that I'm starting
to treat my the way she was treating me because
I'm holding on to this. And we were like, yeah, yeah,
where's she at. Bring her down. Let's get her down
here wall pray together. She's been dead for eighteen years.
She was holding on harboring that unforgiveness for eighteen years
(29:15):
and the person couldn't do anything about it. So apology forgiveness,
But that's only two pieces for reconciliation. You got to
come together. The more I get to know this man,
the more I love him as an individual, the more
I love him as a person, not as a black man,
but as a man.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And a terrific job on the production and storytelling by
Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to Andrew Collins and
Jamel McGee for sharing their remarkable journey. And also a
special thanks to Torres Montgomery for sharing the audio of
this remarkable story.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And what a story.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Indeed about big things like forgiveness and reconciliation, and what
a stud Jamel is, what a man?
Speaker 2 (29:57):
The story of So.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Much here about God, about faith, about forgiveness, and ultimately
about racial reconciliation and real human reconciliation. The story of
a crooked cop, an innocent man, and an unlikely journey
of forgiveness and friendship.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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