I’m impressed, I was prepared for this book to be more of a downer than it was. Make no mistake, this isn’t the one to pick up if you want to turn off your brain for something fluffy (not meant as an insult; some days I need fluffy books for just that reason; my next read after this might need to be for decompression, actually). But, for a book on the ways that race plays into the justice systemic racism finds a way to thrive […]
The System Sucks, But Some Are Fighting the Good Fight
Best for: Someone interested in reading about the people fighting injustice, and those they are fighting for (both the innocent and the not so innocent). In a nutshell: Attorney Bryan Stevenson tells stories of his life fighting against a system set up to ignore the humanity in those who have been accused of – and sometimes committed – crimes. Line that sticks with me: (It’s a long one) “We emphasized the incongruity of not allowing children to smoke, drink, vote, drive without restrictions, give blood, […]
Them Without the Capital Get the Punishment
This is one of those books that I want to put into everyone’s hands and one that I’m planning to own (because I read a library copy.) Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and one of the many interesting talking heads in Ava DuVenay’s documentary, 13th, has crafted a book that is part memoir, part investigative journalism, and all heart—angry, tearful, heart. It tackles the mess that is our criminal justice system by focusing specifically on Stevenson’s work with prisoners on death […]
A mixed bag book club read for me
My Book Club has decided to merge August and September’s books together, which is a good thing overall, since August was *crazy* for us all. Plus, B and D, the members who had the respective picks, decided to go with similarly themed books. B chose Coates’s Between the World and Me (which I read last year and found really profound and insightful), and D chose Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. I had a strong reaction to it, which he was not expecting. The Chancellor’s review is […]