The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist Quotes

“I am an invisible man… I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. —Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man”
― Radley Balko, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South

“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. —James Baldwin, No Name in the Street”
― Radley Balko, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South

“We couldn’t even count the bullet holes in my brother’s head. But they called it heart failure. —A black Mississippi woman, 1964”
― Radley Balko, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South

“This is simply false. It’s either a lie or a false statement arising from stunning inattention to the facts.”
― Radley Balko, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South

“The core problem with the medicolegal system in Mississippi is that it’s easily manipulated—it serves those in power. Historically, it has served as a means of preserving the state’s white power structure. But that’s only because those in power wanted it that way.”
― Radley Balko, Dr. Death and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Corruption and Injustice in the American South

“By the early 1990s, Hayne, West, and Jimmy Roberts would come to dominate Mississippi’s medicolegal system. “The Mississippi system was run by the triumvirate for years,” says one long-serving former coroner. “Imagine that. A pathologist, a small-town dentist, and a funeral director.… The state provided an audience of adoring idiots.”
― Radley Balko, Dr. Death and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Corruption and Injustice in the American South

“A study of Mississippi death investigations from 1981 through 1984 showed staggeringly high rates of deaths classified as “undetermined causes.” In DeSoto County, for example, the rate was 53 percent. In Benton County, it was 70 percent. The average across the country is around 3 percent.”
― Radley Balko, Dr. Death and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Corruption and Injustice in the American South