By CELESTE M. HART
A theatrical performance, titled, The Lynched Among Us: Tales of the Wrongfully Convicted, that Michael Sutton said cast members “do a little more than acting,” presented at Cleveland, Ohio’s Playhouse Square, a six minute walk from the courthouse that leads the U.S. in wrongful convictions. The main characters, six railroaded men, include, Sutton, RuEl Sailor, Lamont Clark, Charles Jackson, Laurese Glover, in Cuyahoga County, and Lynched writer, Al Cleveland, in Lorain.
“We’ve lived through the unimaginable. Now, we’re using those experiences to build understanding, spark hope and create change in the criminal justice system,” said Cleveland, founder, Voices of Injustice, an organization formed by exonerees, to educate, advocate and create criminal justice reform through the arts.
The Blakk Jakk Ensemble, opened the play with their Ancestral Dance of the Formerly Lynched, and performances by Daniel Rice and Taquita Brown, intertwined through-out the two hour production before a sold-out arena on September 5th.
Sutton, arrested on stage at his high school graduation, incarcerated 15 years for attempted murder of police officer that lied and withheld evidence proving his innocence. He told his story on a different stage.
“I got a chance to express what I feel. Giving the world a glimpse to what I experienced. It’s like true crime, but it’s you. This is unique,” said Sutton.
Penitentiary Pain, a poem written and performed by Wallstreet Wes, takes the audience inside the prison cell; excerpt;
There is nothing fine
about being confined
Prison is painful
Sailor, spent 15 years in prison, framed for a murder he did not commit. His skit included an evil correctional officer, played by Jerome ‘Kiko’ Chambers, whose bark even made audience members jump.
Clark, spent 23 years convicted in the accidental death of his wife, known as the ‘Toilet Seat Murder’. His son, four-years-old, at the time, visited his dad as a grown man to find out what really happened to his momma and learns the role his maternal grandmother played in railroading his father.Jackson, began his 27 years incarcerated, at 27 years-old, for aggravated murder, freed by plea dealing, in time to save his nephew’s life by kidney donation. Nephew was Jackson’s protector from a family addict. Jackson said he saved my life and he ‘got to save his.’ Jackson’s rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody sent shivers down the spine and some chuckles from audience members. His skit depicts the Dark Pleas, and official misconduct, often utilized in Cuyahoga County.
“Mama, they said I killed a man, put a gun against his head, mama, my life had just begun, but now they went and stole it all away…didn’t mean to make you cry…too late, my time has come”, lyrics eloquently sung by Jackson.
Glover, one third of the ‘East Cleveland Three’ wrongfully convicted as teenagers, served 20 years before a paid informant recanted, hidden reports discovered and the Ohio Innocent Project got involved. Glover, also performed in OIP’s Blind Injustice-The Opera. He said that opportunity was therapeutic with all of the singing, ‘It didn’t take me back I can speak about it.’
“I felt we had a great performance and we gave our audience a piece of our pain we endured during that dark moment of our lives. That day was heavy for me, I attended a funeral for a childhood friend,” said Glover.
Al Cleveland, The Lynched director, said Voices of Injustice started as a support group. “We didn’t know what we had, it just led to this. No casting calls, just us, friends and family.”
Cleveland, a part of the Ohio Four, imprisoned 26 years for a prostitute’s murder committed while he was in New York, he was 21.
“I wish and hope we can get more cases highlighted and people can understand the outrage. It’s bigger than wrongful convictions<” said Cleveland.
“What made us bonded happened naturally, organically. We worked on the play for about a year. We’d love to expand geographically, New York, Chicago, the South, to inspire others to tell their stories of wrongful conventions,” said Cleveland.
Attorney Kimberley Kendall Corral, a fierce fighter for the wrongfully convicted underdogs, shines in courts and in this production.
Profoundly supportive cast members, included, Roberta Sutton, Shamecka Nelson, Leah Winsberg, Draye Mitchell, Wesley Robinson, Willis McNeal, Joseph Atwater, Steve Chiller and Elaine Henderson-Turner.
Above the stage, posted large photos of actual court hearings, newspaper articles and the exonerees’ day of freedom from slavery, hearing the judges’ words, “You are free to go.”
“I’ve heard each of their stories hundreds of times, but, watching them perform themselves in their own plays brings so much more emotion than just hearing them speak of it. It brings the reality of what the innocent face before, during and after exoneration. Seeing them on the big stage was nothing less than incredible,” said Jeanna Kenney, organizer, International Wrongful Conviction Day, held Oct. 2, Cleveland’s Justice Center.
Cuyahoga County ranks 12th nationally in county exonerations, at 42, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, Ohio, ranks sixth, from 1989 to 2024, 85 exonerations and 64 percent Black and/or Hispanic.
The NAACP-Cleveland, The Returning Artist Guild, CSU Law, Caring Collab, Comma Club, Paulozzi LPA, FG+G-Until Justice for All and Building Freedom Ohio, sponsored the play.
The Lynched Among Us adorned the stage at Cincinnati’s School for Creative and Performing Arts, Warrensville Hts. High School and at Cleveland State University, with intentions to take the play national.
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