Previous
Prosecutor Bob McGregor
Lieutenant Acker is one of the officers who reads Ray his rights when he is arrested. In the van on the way to the Birmingham jail, Acker tells Ray that he believes that Ray didn’t commit the crime, but that Ray’s going to take the rap for something his “brothers” did anyway. Acker then openly declares Ray is going to be convicted because of the white jury, judge, and lawyers, demonstrating how racial bias works against Ray both in the courts and on the police force.
Lieutenant Acker Quotes in The Sun Does Shine
The The Sun Does Shine quotes below are all either spoken by Lieutenant Acker or refer to Lieutenant Acker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5 Quotes
“You know, I don’t care whether you did or didn’t do it. In fact, I believe you didn’t do it. But it doesn’t matter. If you didn’t do it, one of your brothers did. And you’re going to take the rap. You want to know why?”
I just shook my head.
“I can give you five reasons why they are going to convict you. Do you want to know what they are?”
I shook my head, no, but he continued.
“Number one, you’re black. Number two, a white man gonna say you shot him. Number three, you’re gonna have a white district attorney. Number four, you’re gonna have a white judge. And number five, you’re gonna have an all-white jury.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes
“Would it make a difference if I told you I was innocent?”
“Listen, all y’all always doing something and saying you’re innocent.”
I dropped my hand. So that’s how it was going to be. I was pretty sure that when he said “all y’all,” he wasn’t talking about ex-cons or former coal miners or Geminis or even those accused of capital murder.
I needed him, so I had no choice but to let it slide. I had to believe that he believed me.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Sun Does Shine LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Lieutenant Acker Character Timeline in The Sun Does Shine
The timeline below shows where the character Lieutenant Acker appears in The Sun Does Shine. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...arrives at the police station, where three officers read him his rights. One officer, Lieutenant Acker, then asks Ray to sign a piece of blank paper to affirm that they read...
(full context)
Ray spends that night in a holding cell, and the next day Lieutenant Acker rides with him to the county jail in Birmingham. Ray asks the policeman why he’s...
(full context)
Acker goes on, explaining that Ray will be convicted because he’s Black, because a white man...
(full context)
