A powerful and deeply personal novel that follows a young African American mans journey through the court system on the wrong side of the color line The world is black and whitebut Rilei tends to live in a gray areauntil life forces him to open his eyes From his sheltered childhood to his rude awakening to reality must learn how to be a survivor in the ghetto streets of Akron Ohio Being a survivor also means that hell have to learn how to accept that the world doesnt come in different shades of gray and that he is on the wrong side of black and white When he enters the criminal justice system he finds it rigged against him from the beginning Can Rilei tell his story and change the fate society has written for him From a new voice in Black American fiction this is a powerful evocative portrait of a young man finding his way in a sometimeshostile society that offers a firstperson account of racism and asks On the wrong side of the color line is American justice possible or is it just us