Best Intentions: The Education and Killing of Edmund Perry

by Robert Sam Anson

A complex, poignant exploration of racial attitudes in America, as illumined by the case of Edmund Perry. Perry, a seventeen-year-old black honors student from Harlem, was fatally shot by a young white plainclothes policeman in 1985 in an alleged mugging attempt. Perry had recently graduated from Philips Exeter Academy and was to attend Stanford University that fall. The shooting and the subsequent case, in which Edmund's elder brother Jonah, an undergraduate at Cornell University, was accused, tried, and found not guilty, drew national headlines and was the subject of heated debate among black and white communities alike. Using interviews with Perry's parents, friends, and former teachers in Harlem and at Exeter, journalist Robert Sam Anson has written a compelling account of a boy caught between two worlds and a profound portrait of the state of race in America.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Biography, History, Sociology

237 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Crystal Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

although this book does a good job of explaining how black students struggle at predominantly white boarding schools, the author, who is a journalist, still manages to provide a biased account of what happened to edmund perry, a young man from harlem who was killed by a cop after graduating from exeter just 10 days before. he was on his way to stanford on a full scholarship. the author seems more focused on how eddie's african-american "impoverished" background leads to his downfall, as opposed to many of the systematic elements of an unjust educational system, failed public policies, and housing discrimination that all contribute to eddie's death.

[Damon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminds me of my own boarding school experience. It clearly defines the struggles and expectations of minority students who were admitted to these institutions like no other work that I have ever encountered. I urge you to read it as it will deepen your understanding of what was expected from those of us who had been 'chosen' so that we could have 'a better chance' as far as 'they' saw it.

[Juanita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review: Best Intentions by Robert Sam Anson.

This is a non-fiction book about Edmund Perry’s short life. It’s interesting that I picked this out of my books to read at this time in 2021. It’s about a black teenager trying to live in two different worlds. We have so much of this going on in the United States right now and the story did open my eyes how cultures open their mouth before they see different sides to how people are living. It doesn’t always go one way to be able live together peacefully, everyone needs to give up on their attitudes and call it the same for all. This young boy died because no one would listen to his story, where he lived, who he was, and stop and realize that we need to understand different cultures that live around us. People are too quick to jump to conclusions before they even think of what they are saying and thinking.

This young boy was a person, and a very smart person who lived in the black ghetto and going to a mostly white prestigious school called Exeter. He had friends, white and black, he had a mother who was proud of him and loved him. Edmund Perry could have gone far, he made a mistake as all people do but that didn’t mean he needed to die. He was a person like everyone else, no matter what color he was…Yes, that’s right, he was a person and wanted a good future but did anyone listen….!!!!

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Approximate dates of start & completion. I read this book because it's on the bookroom list for seniors, and it seems like a book I can use with my honors seniors as an entry point to discussing race and race relations in this country. The book was published (and the event the author is examining occurred) in the mid-1980s, and yet, it could have happened yesterday. Raises a lot of questions about subjects like race, class, inner cities, prep schools, but also questions of craft. Ex: Why does this writer get to tell this young man's story? It was a fascinating read, but some of the writer's assumptions and the ending are incredibly frustrating. Almost like the writer is proving stereotypes (drug use & dealing).

[Stephon · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very good book that still had its share of flaws (the author's bias in some places was hard to get through). but overall, it a fantastic insight into education, race, cultural schizophrenia and the false prospects of upward mobility. the book also displays how even the most liberal-minded White person could still be culturally insensitive or prejudiced. I also saw a lot of myself in the teenage Edmund Perry. the circumstances of his death depress me greatly.

[Raquel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not like this book; however, I do like it for teaching bias in non-fiction literature to my students. Lots of blatant and obvious bias at the same time it deals with relevant real world issues.
#Black Lives Matter

[Z. · Rating 2 out of 5]

i must admit i did not finish this book. the author biased opinion (although he wanted to make sure we knew he was a true white liberal who marched with dr. king)

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book investigating the killing of an unarmed African-American youth by a police officer I shelved as social sciences today. I'd read it when it came out, reread this week. Written by an accomplished journalist decades before BLM emerged, it explores witnesses' accounts of the shooting and, much more importantly, the social and cultural background of the seventeen year old who was killed. It's about what we now call "white privilege" and "institutionalized racism," not the KKK.
The author is charged by most of the reviewers on goodreads with "bias," probably because he concludes that Edmund Perry had in fact with his elder brother been violently mugging and trying to rob a young white male who turned out to be an undercover police officer. Before and since 1985 here have been so many events in which testimony established that the dead black man was no threat to the licensed police officer(s) who shot (or choked) him that many people today can't credit an alternative to that scenario.
Anson's topic is not "Did Ed do that or not?" It's "Why did Ed do that?" In dozens of interviews with Ed Perry's teachers, schoolmates, neighbors and other acquaintances and observers he can't give us a precise answer. He does provide important insight into the subtle injuries of institutionalized racism, the risks and costs of having a foot in two wildly different worlds.
The book is not an attack on Exeter, which I think worked harder and earlier than most schools of its ilk to bring in black students on scholarship. The school, however, is not held faultless. It's not an attack on the concept of scholarships to try bridging a huge gulf, but it does show the risks. Chapter 7, told mostly by a pseudonymous film-maker also a scholarship student like Ed, is to me the centerpiece of Best Intentions. The book is not a dismissal of Ed Perry as a failed symbol of how a disrupting opportunity like his must always damage or break its recipient; many recipients must have reckoned a net gain. It is a compassionate narrative about racism that prefigures the many important books of the last several years aimed at best-intending whites like me.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

While doing investigative reporting on the death of a promising black student, the author uncovers rich material on the experiences of black youths from low socioeconomic background who attended prep schools populated with rich white students. It’s eye-opening to read how different cultures clash internally within these students and a good reminder that often we don’t know or understand our fellow man nor often ourselves. The author himself doesn’t seem to realize his own bias in the telling of the story, which was the most disappointing part of the book.

[Christine Bratton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touching and poignant. Does putting a poor Black child in an all-white instituting benefit him/her? Unfortunately for Edmund,we will never know.

[Karson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sucked me in quite naturally. I thought it was really well written and well reported. The author goes through testimony after testimony trying to uncover the story of this kid. He saves the juiciest ones for last, which is the way you should do it I guess. It is about the death of Edmund Perry, an african american student from Harlem that got into a hoidy toidy upper crust mostly white school in New Hampshire called Exeter. He was on his way to Stanford on a full ride after high school, but was shot and killed while reportedly trying to mug a white undercover police officer in Harlem about ten days after his graduation from Exeter. The book is an exploration of why and how this could happen.
Lately I've seen more and more how individuals grow up in thier own universes. The culture in Harlem is an absolutely different universe than the culture most of the kids that got into Exeter had ever been exposed to. As a result Eddy was not so much a human to the students there, but more of a curiosity to them. He was something they had heard of, but never intimately encountered. Eddy was also a curiosity within his own neighborhood. Once he got accepted to a wealthy "white" prep school in New Hampshire, he no longer felt he belonged to his home neighborhood in harlem. As the years passed, it got harder and harder for Eddy to be the rock and representative of Harlem in the misunderstanding world of Exeter. He had no place where he could just be himself. The pressure got to him and...boom. He does something that makes everyone realize that none of them really knew him at all. I resonated with this book becuase I have felt the pressures of trying to live in what felt like different worlds and trying to resolve them within myself. I respect Ed Perry becuase his worlds were much further apart than the ones i have struggled so much to reconcile. It is sad it ended the way it did for him, but it shows just how far apart Harlem is from Exeter; the way it tortured him to try and live in both worlds as an adolescent developing his self concept. His life is one more instance that forces us to look at ourselves as Americans and ask why these worlds are so hard to reconcile if they are in the same country.

[Caroline Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up off my future mother-in-law's shelf while home for the holiday and book-less. I had never heard of it and the cover looked pretty tacky, but it came with warm recommendations from most members of the family. Convinced, I started reading. I am not typically a non-fiction reader, but this story moves pretty quickly and is quite captivating. Essentially, the father of a student at Exeter in the 80s covers the inside story of the life and eventual "murder" of an African-American scholarship student at Exeter, one of the most prestigious private boarding schools in the country. Edmund Perry, who grew up in Harlem, showed a lot of promise and ended up in the WASPy bubble that is Exeter; weeks after graduation, he and his older brother attempt to mug an undercover cop, and Eddie is fatally shot.

The book details the ins and outs of Eddie's lives, as it is made crystal clear that his home life and his school life are dramatically different, and thus Eddie acts accordingly. I liked that the book simply presented the facts without forcing any polarized opinions or theories. There are clear conclusions to draw, as well as lessons to be learned by educators, parents, government officials, police officers, and the list goes on. I did have to keep reminding myself that this book was written in 1987, and that thankfully things have changed since then.

Anson interviews friends and relatives of Eddie's, both black and white, from Harlem and Exeter and in between, but it is not until rather close to the end that he discovers a twist that starts to slide the pieces into place. I think most educators would appreciate the glance into the role and experience of the minority considering the current state of education in the U.S. It was also interesting for me, while currently working at a boarding school, to consider the implications for our own students, even though there is no race differential at Liger.

[Elyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book combines two of my favorite genres: social justice and true crime. This is the story of Edmund Perry, a young man from Harlem who attended Phillips Exeter Academy through a scholarship program. Immediately after graduating, he reportedly attempted to rob a man in Harlem, who was actually an undercover police officer, who then killed Edmund in self-defense. In exploring Edmund's life and what led to his death, the author explores issues of race, class, and justice. The author presents the story as he uncovers information with a surprise twist at the end.

[Elizabeth Barnes]

When I finished this book, which was grim, I was hoping that the issues had improved since Edmund Perry's death, but read in the New York Times Book Review an account of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace and knew that it hadn't.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a friend. There are so many parallels to what is happening today. If you care about diversity in schools, this book is powerful.

[Hillary Rayport · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written in the 80s and is a period piece. It's tragic how much has changed in the past 30 years, yet so little progress has been made.

[Rose Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent esp knowing the PEA school !

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this during my first class for a master’s of education at The College of New Jersey. We also watched the Law & Order episode depicting the story.

[Margarita]

A Valuable Read. This examined the life of a smart black boy who got chosen for an ABC (A Better Chance) scholarship to Phillips Exeter Academy prep school. 10 days after he graduated, he was shot and killed while attempting to mug a police officer. The book examines the racial problem with thoroughness and subtlety. Reading it, I began, for the first time, to begin to apprehend the reason why societal "colorblindness" seems an inadequate solution to fair minded black thinkers. Coexistence, not assimilation, is the goal, it seems, to blacks who are insulted by the perception that they must abandon their cultural identity in order to enjoy the benefits of the American Dream. I still can't fully appreciate this, but for the first time, I begin to see it.