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I Ain't Resisting: The City of Greensboro and the Killing of Marcus Smith
In September of 2018, Marcus Deon Smith, a Black man who had committed no crime, died in the custody of the Greensboro Police Department. His death was eventually ruled a homicide. Ian McDowell explores the narrative the City of Greensboro put forth around the death of Marcus Smith, how that narrative was challenged by citizens first, then lawyers, and how the controversy over Smith's death played out on the streets, in City Council meetings, in the press, and in the courts, for years after his death. Often lauded as 'a bubble of blue' in a red state, Greensboro, NC was home to one of the first Civil Rights sit-ins in 1960, as well as 1979's Greensboro Massacre, in which Neo-Nazis and the KKK killed five members of the Communist Workers Party. The Marcus Smith case brought to light long standing issues involving the use of force, accountability, and the responsibility of elected officials to respond to the concerns of their community. I Ain't Resisting demonstrates how citizens can resist the narratives that arise to justify a needless death .
328 pages, Paperback
Published September 26, 2023
11 people want to read
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July 20, 2025
From Arthurian to horror, speculative fiction, illustration and sci fi, Ian McDowell has been published in a myriad of genres. 2023’s “I Ain’t Resisting: The City of Greensboro and the Killing of Marcus Smith”, is his first work of non -fiction. McDowell did not disappoint in bringing the same expertise he brings to fiction to this superlative work of investigative journalism and first person oral history. The September 2018 tragic and completely avoidable killing of Marcus Smith, an unarmed Black man, took place in Greensboro, North Carolina; a perennial U.S. flashpoint for both civil rights and racial violence.
While longtime Greensboro resident and journalist Ian McDowell did extensively cover the shocking aftermath of Marcus Smith’s death for local papers as it was happening , this is not simple a series of articles woven together nor is the book a standard true crime read. I Ain’t Resisting is unique in that, from start to finish, the reader and scholar alike can see how police brutality and the ensuing coverup and obfuscation unfolds. This is important because usually when the public is alerted to a Black person having been murdered by the police, it’s after the fact. The public is often fed truncated information from both the city and law-enforcement in combination with the justifiably upset and anger reactions from the decedent’s family. Ian McDowell shows every single step of the way from the body cam homicide of Marcus Smith to civil rights attorneys attaining justice. We are also given a detailed and all important humanizing look at who Marcus Smith was. The attempts by law-enforcement and some city and county officials to dehumanize Marcus Smith are both ameliorated and smashed by McDowell’s writing.
This is a very detailed book. The reader is shown police officer salaries and subsequent pay raises. To some readers, this information may seem unnecessarily dense, but it’s extremely important to have details like that laid out in plain sight. In the case of the police officer salaries, it demonstrates how there were few to no repercussions for deadly brutality.
The reader is not only given a minute by minute accounting of Marcus’s tragic death on the street while in police custody but also an extensive look at the politics of Greensboro City Council that in some instances flipped flopped like dilettantes, when called on to investigate the GPD. We learn of the history of policing in the area that attempted a blatant cover up in plain sight. We’re given a window into a community of long time activists, civil rights lawyers, family members and every day citizens who would not allow the Greensboro police to get away with an unlawful killing. While being a longtime resident is not the ultimate purveyor when recounting a local tragedy, in this case it’s essential. Ian McDowell attended dozens of city council meetings and knew many of the public figures on either side of the divide.
I highly recommend this excellent book . To paraphrase Scuppernog’s promo, I Ain’t Resisting demonstrates how communities can overcome false narratives put forth by both law enforcement and civic leaders.
While longtime Greensboro resident and journalist Ian McDowell did extensively cover the shocking aftermath of Marcus Smith’s death for local papers as it was happening , this is not simple a series of articles woven together nor is the book a standard true crime read. I Ain’t Resisting is unique in that, from start to finish, the reader and scholar alike can see how police brutality and the ensuing coverup and obfuscation unfolds. This is important because usually when the public is alerted to a Black person having been murdered by the police, it’s after the fact. The public is often fed truncated information from both the city and law-enforcement in combination with the justifiably upset and anger reactions from the decedent’s family. Ian McDowell shows every single step of the way from the body cam homicide of Marcus Smith to civil rights attorneys attaining justice. We are also given a detailed and all important humanizing look at who Marcus Smith was. The attempts by law-enforcement and some city and county officials to dehumanize Marcus Smith are both ameliorated and smashed by McDowell’s writing.
This is a very detailed book. The reader is shown police officer salaries and subsequent pay raises. To some readers, this information may seem unnecessarily dense, but it’s extremely important to have details like that laid out in plain sight. In the case of the police officer salaries, it demonstrates how there were few to no repercussions for deadly brutality.
The reader is not only given a minute by minute accounting of Marcus’s tragic death on the street while in police custody but also an extensive look at the politics of Greensboro City Council that in some instances flipped flopped like dilettantes, when called on to investigate the GPD. We learn of the history of policing in the area that attempted a blatant cover up in plain sight. We’re given a window into a community of long time activists, civil rights lawyers, family members and every day citizens who would not allow the Greensboro police to get away with an unlawful killing. While being a longtime resident is not the ultimate purveyor when recounting a local tragedy, in this case it’s essential. Ian McDowell attended dozens of city council meetings and knew many of the public figures on either side of the divide.
I highly recommend this excellent book . To paraphrase Scuppernog’s promo, I Ain’t Resisting demonstrates how communities can overcome false narratives put forth by both law enforcement and civic leaders.
Displaying 1 of 1 review