Diesel Heart: An Autobiography

A thoroughly enjoyable and eye opening memoir about growing up as a black man in St. Paul, MN in the 60's, going into the Navy during the Vietnam War, and then working as a police officer. Mr. Carter has an exuberant voice throughout the memoir. It sounds like he dealt gracefully with the racism he encountered daily, but he also conveys a strong sense of his frustration with it. The stories he has to tell of his treatment by fellow police officers and superiors in the police force are the most appalling of all, and he doesn't shrink from showing the indifference with which they repeatedly exposed him to unnecessary danger and then rebuked him for complaining.

I found reading this book to be a little like reading the adventures of a superhero— on the edge of my seat when he was facing danger, with the tiny spark of knowledge that things would turn out OK held safe in a back corner of my mind. I cheered Carter on and admired his irrepressible spirit as I read.

Another plus for this book is that it was a great way to learn a little recent history about my city, Saint Paul, and the Rondo neighborhood which was leveled to make way for Interstate 94.