“I said, ‘I don’t know about the victims in your cases, but from the bottom of my heart, I’m so sorry for what happened to each and every one of you,” Thompson-Cannino recalled.
And then it happened. An exonerated man named Marvin Anderson stood up and thanked Thompson-Cannino for her courage, and she embarked on the third stage of a personal journey that helped her rise from the depths of despair to a place of forgiveness and compassion.
“He said, ‘Ms. Thompson, you’re the first person who’s ever apologized to me. I think I can start to heal now,’” she said. “Over the next 24 hours, I became friends with these 12 incredible human beings, and those 24 hours taught me more about living than I had ever learned. And yet, we had thrown them away. We were within hours of executing some of these people and it became a turning point for me and allowed me to find my voice and really speak out on behalf not just of the wrongfully convicted but the victims who get caught up in a system that fails us.” Thus began the third stage of Thompson-Cannino and Cotton’s shared journey. For the past five years, Thompson-Cannino and Cotton’s unlikely friendship, a bond borne out of a tragic set of circumstances, has buoyed them as they have campaigned for greater accountability in the criminal
justice system. Thompson-Cannino and Cotton’s document of their shared
experience is the subject of the New York Times bestseller Picking Cotton. Thompson-
Cannino, a Winston-Salem native, held a book signing at Whitespace
Gallery at the Piedmont Leaf Lofts, and talked about the inspiration
for the book and the healing power of forgiveness.
Thompson-Cannino said it took 25 years for her to tell her story but Picking Cotton serves
as a document of her and Ronald’s journey. In the first part of their
journey, they were both victims of the real perpetrator, Bobby Poole,
and a “failed justice system,” she said. “The second part of the
journey is really our friendship and how such a terrible event and such
a terrible violent tragedy can impact both of our lives and merge us
together, and we had no idea we would end up this way as friends — two
people who could share our stories together, and cry together and heal
together, and really become friends,” she said. Despite the fact Cotton
could not attend last Friday’s book signing due to work obligations,
Thompson-Cannino did her best to give the 60 visitors in attendance a
clear understanding of her good friend’s character.
“He’s
given me something I never thought I’d have. He became a teacher for me
about grace, mercy, forgiveness and healing,” she said. “I owe him a
lot because without him I could never have gotten to the place where I
could’ve let go.” Forgiving Bobby Poole and more importantly, forgiving
herself became the third stage of Thompson-Cannino’s personal odyssey
that fueled her passion to champion the wrongfully imprisoned.
“As
a collective voice, each one of us has a moral responsibility to be
outraged when these things happen to ask for something better, to ask
for a better judicial system,” Thompson-Cannino said. But ultimately, Picking Cotton is
a personal memoir, not a political statement. It is two people telling
their tragic yet redemptive tale. And with each book signing,
Thompson-Cannino said she meets women who can relate to her experience.
It is during those private moments of shared stories that the value of
finding her voice becomes crystal clear.
“For them to be able
to look at me and say, ‘I totally get that, to be able to let go.’ It
begins their journey, and that’s amazing for me to watch that,” she
said.
Jennifer Thompson-Cannino signs copies of her book, Picking Cotton, at a reading in Winston-Salem, her home town. Thompson- Cannino mistakenly accused Ronald Cotton of rape, and the two established a relationship after DNA evidence cleared his name. (photo by Keith T. Barber)
