Shattered Dream: Race and Justice

Shattered Dream: Race and Justice
Author: Godfrey Mwakikagile
Publisher: New Africa Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2023
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

The author looks at race and justice in the American context, including mistreatment of black people by the police. He contends that although race is quite often a factor in such mistreatment, there are black police officers who also mistreat fellow blacks. He states that it is an aspect of the problem that is often ignored or deliberately overlooked because of the prevalence of racism in the American society, shielding black police officers from criticism as if they do nothing wrong to fellow blacks and as if it is only white officers who mistreat black people and other non-whites. He looks at the the case of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee – that's just one example – where a black man was brutally beaten and killed by five police officers, all of them black, in January 2023 and contends that mistreatment of black people by black police officers is also a serious problem. The five cops were members of the SCORPION, a unit established to fight crime and which targeted mostly black residents, especially men. The author further contends that black people can assume responsibility for the safety of their own communities instead of waiting for the police to do that for them. There aren't even enough police officers to provide security for everybody and for all communities across the nation, he says, which is obvious. A former resident of Detroit himself, he gives an example of New Era Detroit, a group that helps to provide security in black communities in Detroit and whose efforts have led to the establishment of similar groups in other cities including Cleveland, Atlanta, and Dallas, and has even won the support of the Detroit Police Department. He recalls the early seventies when black residents of Detroit in the inner city were under siege at the hands of the members of a decoy police unit called S.T.R.E.S.S. – “Stop The Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets”. It targeted black men, mostly in the ghetto. Almost all of the undercover cops of STRES.S. patrolling the ghetto were black. And almost all those killed were black men, expect two, from 1971 to 1974. The unit was disbanded by the city's first black mayor, Coleman Young, who vowed to abolish it when he was campaigning to become mayor. Some blacks called it “a hit squad” that had targeted black people to kill black people; ironically, targeted by black cops and killed by black cops who worked for a system that is unfair to blacks in many cases. He has written about S.T.R.E.S.S. in his book and contends that there would be no need for such units to combat crime if black people provided security for themselves in their own communities as New Era Detroit is doing today even if on a smaller scale. But there is room for growth and expansion for such community-based security units. He also looks at racial injustice as a persistent problem and an integral part of the nation's history, a nation that was founded on slavery, not on the twin ideals of liberty and equality; which explains why racism still is a major problem even today. He has provided cases to demonstrate the disproportionate impact racial injustices have on blacks. But he also acknowledges that the country has made great progress in pursuit of racial equality. The United States today is not the United States in the fifties, or even in the sixties, he contends.

Shattered Dreams

Shattered Dreams
Author: Charles Enderlin
Publisher: Other Press, LLC
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2021-04-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1635421470

As Middle-East Bureau Chief of the French Public television network and a resident of Jerusalem since 1968, Charles Enderlin has had unequaled access to leaders and negotiators on all sides. Here he takes the reader step-by-step along the path that began with the hope of agreement but led only to the ultimate collapse of the peace process. The dramatic account moves between the occupied territories and the negotiation tables as it follows the emotional shifts in the conflict from the 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin to the years when Benjamin Netenyahu was in power. In a definitive account of the meetings at Camp David in July 2000, Enderlin details what was said between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators brought together by Bill Clinton in the presence of Yasir Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Won’t Lose This Dream

Won’t Lose This Dream
Author: Andrew Gumbel
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2024-09-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1620979284

The “heartfelt” (Shelf Awareness) story of how Georgia State University tore up the rulebook for educating lower-income students Published to wide acclaim, Won’t Lose This Dream is the “illuminating” (Times Literary Supplement) story of a public university that has blazed an extraordinary trail for lower-income and first-generation students in downtown Atlanta, the birthplace of the civil rights movement. “A powerful story of institutional transformation” (bestselling author Beverly Daniel Tatum), Won’t Lose This Dream shows how Georgia State University has upended the conventional wisdom about low-income students by harnessing the power of big data to identify and remove obstacles that previously stopped them from graduating—an earthshaking achievement that is reverberating across every college campus today. “Drawing on extensive on-the-ground reporting” (Kirkus Reviews), Andrew Gumbel delivers a thrilling, blow-by-blow account of visionary leaders who overcame fierce resistance, and the remarkable students whose resilience and determination inspired the work at every stage. Their success shows how the promise of social advancement through talent and hard work, the essence of the American dream, can be rekindled even in an age of deep inequalities and divisive politics. “A superb work for anyone interested in higher education” (Library Journal), Won’t Lose This Dream “lays out a persuasive vision for reform” (Publishers Weekly) and a concrete vision of higher ed that works for all Americans.

Race, Law, and American Society

Race, Law, and American Society
Author: Gloria J. Browne-Marshall
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2013-05-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1135087938

This second edition of Gloria Browne-Marshall’s seminal work , tracing the history of racial discrimination in American law from colonial times to the present, is now available with major revisions. Throughout, she advocates for freedom and equality at the center, moving from their struggle for physical freedom in the slavery era to more recent battles for equal rights and economic equality. From the colonial period to the present, this book examines education, property ownership, voting rights, criminal justice, and the military as well as internationalism and civil liberties by analyzing the key court cases that established America’s racial system and demonstrating the impact of these court cases on American society. This edition also includes more on Asians, Native Americans, and Latinos. Race, Law, and American Society is highly accessible and thorough in its depiction of the role race has played, with the sanction of the U.S. Supreme Court, in shaping virtually every major American social institution.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Letter from Birmingham Jail
Author: Martin Luther King
Publisher: HarperOne
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2025-01-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780063425811

A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King's essay "Letter from Birmingham Jail," part of Dr. King's archives published exclusively by HarperCollins. With an afterword by Reginald Dwayne Betts On April 16, 1923, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., responded to an open letter written and published by eight white clergyman admonishing the civil rights demonstrations happening in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King drafted his seminal response on scraps of paper smuggled into jail. King criticizes his detractors for caring more about order than justice, defends nonviolent protests, and argues for the moral responsibility to obey just laws while disobeying unjust ones. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" proclaims a message - confronting any injustice is an acceptable and righteous reason for civil disobedience. This beautifully designed edition presents Dr. King's speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality.

Between the World and Me

Between the World and Me
Author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Publisher: One World
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2015-07-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0679645985

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH” • NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race” (Rolling Stone) NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • People • Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • New York • Newsday • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

They Can't Take Your Name

They Can't Take Your Name
Author: Robert Justice
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1643858424

Laced with atmospheric poetry and literature and set in the heart of Denver's black community, this gripping crime novel pits three characters in a race against time to thwart a gross miscarriage of justice—and a crooked detective who wreaks havoc…with deadly consequences. What happens to a deferred dream—especially when an innocent man's life hangs in the balance? Langston Brown is running out of time and options for clearing his name and escaping death row. Wrongfully convicted of the gruesome Mother's Day Massacre, he prepares to face his death. His final hope for salvation lies with his daughter, Liza, an artist who dreamed of a life of music and song but left the prestigious Juilliard School to pursue a law degree with the intention of clearing her father's name. Just as she nears success, it's announced that Langston will be put to death in thirty days. In a desperate bid to find freedom for her father, Liza enlists the help of Eli Stone, a jazz club owner she met at the classic Five Points venue, The Roz. Devastated by the tragic loss of his wife, Eli is trying to find solace by reviving the club…while also wrestling with the longing to join her in death. Everyone has a dream that might come true—but as the dark shadows of the past converge, could Langston, Eli, and Liza be facing a danger that could shatter those dreams forever?

Arc of Justice

Arc of Justice
Author: Kevin Boyle
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1429900164

Winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction An electrifying story of the sensational murder trial that divided a city and ignited the civil rights struggle In 1925, Detroit was a smoky swirl of jazz and speakeasies, assembly lines and fistfights. The advent of automobiles had brought workers from around the globe to compete for manufacturing jobs, and tensions often flared with the KKK in ascendance and violence rising. Ossian Sweet, a proud Negro doctor-grandson of a slave-had made the long climb from the ghetto to a home of his own in a previously all-white neighborhood. Yet just after his arrival, a mob gathered outside his house; suddenly, shots rang out: Sweet, or one of his defenders, had accidentally killed one of the whites threatening their lives and homes. And so it began-a chain of events that brought America's greatest attorney, Clarence Darrow, into the fray and transformed Sweet into a controversial symbol of equality. Historian Kevin Boyle weaves the police investigation and courtroom drama of Sweet's murder trial into an unforgettable tapestry of narrative history that documents the volatile America of the 1920s and movingly re-creates the Sweet family's journey from slavery through the Great Migration to the middle class. Ossian Sweet's story, so richly and poignantly captured here, is an epic tale of one man trapped by the battles of his era's changing times.

The Little Book of Racial Healing

The Little Book of Racial Healing
Author: Thomas Norman DeWolf
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2019-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1680993631

This book introduces Coming to the Table’s approach to a continuously evolving set of purposeful theories, ideas, experiments, guidelines, and intentions, all dedicated to facilitating racial healing and transformation. People of color, relative to white people, fall on the negative side of virtually all measurable social indicators. The “living wound” is seen in the significant disparities in average household wealth, unemployment and poverty rates, infant mortality rates, access to healthcare and life expectancy, education, housing, and treatment within, and by, the criminal justice system. Coming to the Table (CTTT) was born in 2006 when two dozen descendants from both sides of the system of enslavement gathered together at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), in collaboration with the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding (CJP). Stories were shared and friendships began. The participants began to envision a more connected and truthful world that would address the unresolved and persistent effects of the historic institution of slavery. This Little Book shares Coming to the Table’s vision for the United States—a vision of a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past. Readers will learn practical skills for better listening; discover tips for building authentic, accountable relationships; and will find specific and varied ideas for taking action. The table of contents includes: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Trauma Awareness and Resilience Chapter 3: Restorative Justice Chapter 4: Uncovering History Chapter 5: Making Connections Chapter 6: Circles, Touchstones, and Values Chapter 7: Working Toward Healing Chapter 8: Taking Action Chapter 9: Liberation and Transformation And subject include Unresolved Trauma, Brown v. Board of Education, Lynching, Connecting with Your Own Story, Wht Healing Looks Like, Engage Your Community, and much more.

The Myth of Equality

The Myth of Equality
Author: Ken Wytsma
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2019-07-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830865306

Is privilege real or imagined? Ken Wytsma, founder of the Justice Conference, unpacks what we need to know to be grounded in conversations about today's race-related issues. And he helps us come to a deeper understanding of both the origins of these issues and the reconciling role we are called to play as witnesses of the gospel.