Shy Richards

A Modern Day Lynching Shy Richards

Modern Day Lynching is a timeless capsule capturing the challenges of being black in America. Through this fictitious coming of age story Chayanne Carter-Parker helps the reader discover the inner and outer workings, the novel opens with inner turmoil; Lilly Chayanne's daughter exploits the comfort of privileges in their life and feels the peer pressure of society to be something she's not (white). Chayanne a conflicted divorced parent re-lives her summer of sorrows childhood trauma through storytelling to connect with Lilly in hopes to expose her developing mind to the truths around her. In present day Chayanne is battling with a career ending decision that threatens her family's safety, when a case file reaches her desk; a black unarmed teenage boy is gunned down outside of a convenient store by an off-duty police officer. This pain runs deep; bearing witness to this style of lynching as a young girl, a vindictive hate surfaces for the laws she swore to uphold, she strives to balance her personal emotions of the past and present; the clock winds down forcing her to coincide with the law firm she aims to become partner or the pleads of a wounded mother grieving a child. Miles away from home Chayanne's son Ashtyn is accused of murdering a classmate and is detained at a police station off campus. Chayanne mind races through time where her parents lacked to protect David and her; David's naked lifeless body swayed in the summer breeze from a sycamore tree. Chayanne's motherly instincts overpowers all, she rushes to aid her son escape the unjust gavel of life. Will she find the strength to outwit the web of society, or will she crumble at the pressure of her own internal struggles?