Author Greg Donaldson spoke at Reeves Theater in Vaughn Tuesday afternoon about his new book Zebratown.
In the book he follows the attempt of Kevin Davis to acclimate to a normal life in a small upstate New York town of Elmira.
Donaldson told the assembled students about how Zebratown came about.
When his first book, The Ville was almost completed, the publisher showed Donaldson a picture they wanted to use for the jacket cover.
Donaldson didn’t like it, and went to the streets of New York City to find a suitable photograph.
He saw a group of young black men standing under a flagpole and saw in them the essence of his book about gang violence in Brownsville.
He walked over and asked the men for their photograph; they denied his request, suggesting that Donaldson and the photographer with him should “back up on outta here.”
The group of young men turned at the sound of a car backfiring up the street, and the photographer dropped to one knee and snapped the photograph.
The photograph was used for the cover of The Ville, and as a wanted poster by the police to catch one of the young men who was wanted in connection with a homicide.
The man they were looking for was Kevin Davis, a prominent member of the Bloods street gang.
When Davis was released from prison, he asked to have a meeting with Donaldson, wanting to chronicle his life as a ex-convict turning his life around.
Donaldson became Davis’ shadow, following him around in what he calls “complete immersion journalism.” He followed Davis’ every move for the next eight years, spending most of his time in Elmira, where Davis had served time in the Elmira Correctional Facility maximum security prison and decided to settle down.
Donaldson was candid about circulating controversy about writing a book about race. “White people don’t talk about race,” he said. “Mostly because they get it wrong.” He was passionate about writing Zebratown because of the idolized perception of the gangster in modern media.
“The gangster is so exaggerated,” he said. “No one knows what is real.”
Donaldson prided himself on showing Davis in both good and bad situations in the pages of the book, offering no judgements but seeking a truthful portrayal by checking prison and court records against the account given by Davis in his own words.
Donaldson handled questions from the audience with a quiet confidence, admitting that those closest to him had accused him of “acquiring thuggish behavior” when asked how writing Zebratown had changed him personally.
“I’m a little rougher around the edges,” he said.
Liza Pichette can be reached at epichette@spartans.ut.edu.