Badge of Color, Breaking the Silence: A Documented Memoir, Book One
But for the author's files of news clippings, photos, awards, letters and memos, this story could not be told.It is the true story of the first black police officer hired for the city of Santa Ana, California in 1966 John Birch Society, Orange County. It was a time when prejudice was rampant. Lambert faced hatred not only from the community he served and lived in--thinking him a traitor--but from his racist colleagues as much as the criminals he apprehended. Could he maintain self-esteem on the job, where he struggled for dignity in a department more often interested in his marginalization--when his community generally despised police officers as oppressors? Did his career in policing make him a sell-out, an Oreo--black on the outside, but white on the inside? The memoir is an accounting of the ordeal of a black trailblazer in Santa Ana, but ultimately inspiring as a record of his determined spirit.