With the civil rights struggle as a backdrop to the story, how did you balance a contemporary perspective on race with the reality of race issues at the time? His trial ended with the dismissal of all charges against the five when it was discovered that the officer was shot accidentally by another officer. Only one of the students stood trial in Victoria Texas due to publicity in Houston. They came to be called the 'TSU Five' and were charged with the murder of the slain officer. All but 5 of the students were released the next day. The police later stormed the dormitory and arrested 489 students after a policeman was shot and killed.

The protest evolved into an police riot that night when an undercover officer was shot and over 200 officers responded by pouring rifle and machinegun fire into the men's dormitory. But the facts are that in 1967 Texas Southern University students began a boycott of classes after the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was banned from campus, and on May 17th they staged a sit down protest on Wheeler Avenue over conditions at the nearby city garbage dump. Some details as well as names have been changed for storytelling purposes. Mark Long: Creating a book like this one required us to find a balance between factual accuracy and emotional authenticity. How much of this book's story is based on real events? With art from the brilliant Nate Powell ( Swallow Me Whole) bringing the tale to heart-wrenching life, The Silence of Our Friends is a new and important entry in the body of civil rights literature. Semi-fictionalized, this story has its roots solidly in very real events. The Silence of Our Friends follows events through the point of view of young Mark Long, whose father is a reporter covering the story. A white family from a notoriously racist neighborhood in the suburbs and a black family from its poorest ward cross Houston's color line, overcoming humiliation, degradation, and violence to win the freedom of five black college students unjustly charged with the murder of a policeman. This semi-autobiographical tale is set in 1967 Texas, against the backdrop of the fight for civil rights. As the civil rights struggle heats up in Texas, two families-one white, one black-find common ground.

Mark long the silence of our friends