Praying for Sheetrock

Sheriff Poppell rules McIntosh County like a dictator and amasses even more wealth—power—through his illegal ventures: “Sheriff Thomas Poppell flourished in a system of favoritism, nepotism, and paternalism known as ‘the courthouse gang’ or the ‘good old boy system’” (74). These courthouse gangs are infamous in Georgia at the time. Nepotism and corruption flourish in rural Georgia, particularly among the small cadre of white men who control each county, who pass their positions down to their appointed heirs and fill other posts with their friends. They pervert America’s representative system of government for their own social status and financial gain: “They were, in a sense, middlemen, guaranteeing their county’s votes to state and national politicians, in exchange for favors that they were then able to pass along to the constituents” (77).

Of course, that power dynamic shifts forever after the black residents of McIntosh protest the shooting of Finch. On that day, Alston—and the greater black community—comes to realize their power as the majority demographic in McIntosh County. Alston says, “I’ll tell you what: I think that was the first time we really felt […] we had more blacks than whites. The sheriff could do nothing with that district from that day until the day he died” (138).