Reading Together
SHARING OUR TIME, SHARING OUR KNOWLEDGE.
June 26th. 2023
7:30 to 9:00 p.m. E.T.
Join us in a discussion of Laura Coates' book Just Pursuit. “This instant New York Times bestseller offers “a firsthand, eye-opening story of a prosecutor that exposes the devastating criminal punishment system” (Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award–winning author of How to Be an Antiracist) in this “compelling collection of engaging, well-written, keenly observed vignettes from [Laura Coates’s] years as a lawyer with the US Department of Justice” (The New York Times Book Review).
Even if you haven’t had a chance to read the book, you are welcome to attend the discussion. This book is rich in information, hope and heartbreak.
”On the front lines of our legal system, Coates saw how Black communities are policed differently; Black cases are prosecuted differently; Black defendants are judged differently. How the court system seems to be the one place where minorities are overrepresented, an unrelenting parade of Black and Brown defendants in numbers that belie their percentage in the population and overfill American prisons.”
Let’s see where the conversation leads us...
Our discussion of Bryan Stevenson’s Book, Just Mercy, last month began a journey of increased understanding of the impact of racism on our criminal justice system. In selecting, Just Pursuit, as our next book to read, let’s continue the discussion and the development of a call to action to be a source of hope and change.
Books allow us to have conversations involving people we may not have the chance to meet, but value knowing. Finding the time to read, can be challenging. Interested in participating in a Community Book Group?
See information below on the Compassion Project by way of an example of such a project, as well as additional sources of information/inspiration in service of thinking about how to frame a “call to action.”
Compassion Prison Project (Letter Writing Campaign
See Lamar Johnson’s story of the impact of human connection
Our last book, Just Mercy, was written in 2014 and includes a detailed discussion of the Equal Justice Initiative founded by Bryan Stevenson. Visiting the website will further inspire, but also distress you.
After visiting the web Equal Justice Initiative website, consider viewing Bryan Stevenson’s Keynote Address on March 31st, 2023 at United Nations Outreach Programm on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery. It is 30 minutes well spent.
The summer is fast approaching. We will be taking a break from our monthly Community Conversations for the months of July and August. Please join us on June 26th as we continue this important conversation.
