The Brother You Choose

Paul Coates and Eddie Conway Talk About Life, Politics, and the Revolution

By: Susie Day

Narrated by: Cary Hite, Kate Mulligan, Leon Nixon

Former Black Panthers Paul Coates and Eddie Conway discuss lives, politics, and their friendship that helped Eddie survive decades in prison.

In 1971, Eddie Conway, lieutenant of security for the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party, was convicted of murdering a police officer and sentenced to life plus 30 years behind bars. Paul Coates was a community worker at the time and didn’t know Eddie well, and the little he knew, he didn’t much like. But Paul was dead certain that Eddie’s charges were bogus. He vowed never to leave Eddie - and in so doing, changed the course of both their lives.

For more than 43 years, as he raised a family and started a business, Paul visited Eddie in prison, often taking his kids with him. He and Eddie shared their lives and worked together on dozens of legal campaigns in hopes of gaining Eddie’s release. Paul’s founding of the Black Classic Press in 1978 was originally a way to get books to Eddie in prison. When, in 2014, Eddie finally walked out onto the streets of Baltimore, Paul Coates was there to greet him. Today, these two men remain rock-solid comrades and friends, each being the other’s chosen brother.

When Eddie and Paul met in the Baltimore Panther Party, they were in their early 20s. They are now into their 70s. This book is a record of their lives and their relationship, told in their own voices. Paul and Eddie talk about their individual stories, their work, their politics, and their immeasurable bond.

©2020 by Susie Day (P)2020 by Blackstone Publishing