Bledsoes take on censorship

ASHEBORO A less than packed auditorium did not stop New York Times best-selling author and Randolph County resident Jerry Bledsoe from speaking from the heart Thursday night at Randolph Community College (RCC).

Bledsoes topic of choice was censorship.

His talk was part of the seventh season of RCCs Cultural Arts Series and Randolph Reads: Invisible Man community reading initiative. Although Bledsoes RCC lecture was not planned to coincide with it, this is Banned Books Week across the nation.

Ive been involved in censorship for over 50 years, Bledsoe said. Ive written stories that never saw print. That in the newspaper business is called editing.

Bledsoe, author of 21 books, is known for several true crime titles based on murders in North Carolina. His journalism career, which spanned more than 20 years, included newspaper work in the North Carolina cities of Kannapolis, Charlotte and Greensboro, and work at Esquire magazine.

Some people in our country are trying to become visible, Bledsoe said. Im the opposite Im visible and trying to become invisible.

Bledsoe went on to explain a phone call he received from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

I called him and didnt get him, Bledsoe told the audience. Within a few minutes he called me back and we met at the FBIs office. They told me that they had listened to a recording from an informant and told me that they thought someone was going to put a hit on me. At the time I was writing about an officer involved in a national drug cartel. For the next three weeks, my wife, dog and I lived in a safe house.

When you get a hit put on you, that is the ultimate form of censorship.

Bledsoe shared several stories about his writings being censored. His first book, The Worlds Number One, Flat-Out, All-Time Great Stock Car Racing Book, was published in 1975. The book observes the sport of stock car racing and its links to the South. It talks about the driver, the fan and the promoter, and how all of their actions lead to race day. However, the book was banned by Catholic schools in Wisconsin opposed to the language used by the NASCAR drivers.

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Bledsoes take on censorship