In 2006, 14-year-old ShaQuanda Cotton was sentenced by a Lamar County judge to up to 7 years confinement in the Texas Youth Commission for allegedly shoving a hall monitor at school. Her story made international headlines after a feature written by journalist Howard Witt was published in the Chicago Tribune. Many subsequently took an interest in the teenager’s plight amid accusations that the treatment she received from the Paris public school and court systems was attributed to deep-seeded racism ruling the order of the small Texas town. Amid a firestorm of controversy, including that surrounding a massive protest led by famous comedian Rickey Smiley, ShaQuanda was released from TYC after having spent a year in lock up. Her release was followed by an investigation that blew the lid off of egregious wrongdoing by TYC staff accused of physical and sexual abuse. Hundreds of other juveniles were subsequently freed from the facility after the investigation revealed their punishments had been unjustly prolonged. Much has been written about ShaQuanda’s story, during and in the aftermath of her long ordeal, but nothing yet from her own perspective. Now, more than a decade later, the mother of three young daughters has been inspired to give her past a purpose through the release of her own narrative. The book, Memoir of a “Teacher Slapping B#[email protected]%”: I Am ShaQuanda Cotton, is ShaQuanda’s effort to reclaim the parts of her that were stolen in her formative years by breaking her silence. The chosen book title is a play on a derogatory term she was referred to by a supervisor at a previous job. To this day, she is the subject of online attacks and gossip generated largely from people within Paris. Memoir of a “Teacher Slapping B#[email protected]%”: I Am ShaQuanda Cotton, offers a first hand account of ShaQuanda’s story, and the whirlwind of emotions that have shaped many of her life choices since her ordeal.