social justice

Type: 
Topical Term
Subfield: 
a
Alias: 
social justice

Locking up our own

crime and punishment in black America
"An original and consequential argument about race, crime, and the law Today, Americans are debating our criminal justice system with new urgency. Mass incarceration and aggressive police tactics -- and their impact on people of color -- are feeding outrage and a consensus that something must be done. But what if we only know half the story? In Locking Up Our Own, the Yale legal scholar and former public defender James Forman Jr. weighs the tragic role that some African Americans themselves played in escalating the war on crime. As Forman shows, the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office around the country amid a surge in crime. Many came to believe that tough measures -- such as stringent drug and gun laws and "pretext traffic stops" in poor African American neighborhoods -- were needed to secure a stable future for black communities. Some politicians and activists saw criminals as a "cancer" that had to be cut away from the rest of black America. Others supported harsh measures more reluctantly, believing they had no other choice in the face of a public safety emergency. Drawing on his experience as a public defender and focusing on Washington, D.C., Forman writes with compassion for individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas -- from the young men and women he defended to officials struggling to cope with an impossible situation. The result is an original view of our justice system as well as a moving portrait of the human beings caught in its coils. "--.

A colony in a nation

America likes to tell itself that it inhabits a postracial world, yet nearly every empirical measure?wealth, unemployment, incarceration, school segregation?reveals that racial inequality has barely improved since 1968, when Richard Nixon became our first ?law and order? president. With the clarity and originality that distinguished his prescient bestseller, Twilight of the Elites, Chris Hayes upends our national conversation on policing and democracy in a book of wide-ranging historical, social, and political analysis.

Writings on the wall

searching for a new equality beyond black and white
Since retiring from professional basketball as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, six-time MVP, and Hall of Fame inductee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has become a lauded observer of culture and society, a New York Times bestselling author, and a regular contributor to The Washington Post, TIME magazine and TIME.com. He now brings that keen insight to the fore in Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White, his most incisive and important work of non-fiction in years. He uses his unique blend of erudition, street smarts and authentic experience in essays on the country's seemingly irreconcilable partisan divide - both racial and political, parenthood, and his own experiences as an athlete, African-American, and a Muslim. The book is not just a collection of expositions; he also offers keen assessments of and solutions to problems such as racism in sports while speaking candidly about his experiences on the court and off.

A is for activist

2013
An alphabet book that introduces ideas related to activism, including environment justice, feminism, human rights, and more.

Encyclopedia of diversity and social justice

2015
"Reveals the unique nature of the language of diversity and social justice and makes the connection between how this language influences-negatively and positively-institutions and society"--Back cover.

The divide

American injustice in the age of the wealth gap
Explores the divide between rich and poor in America and how our criminal justice system discriminates against the poor while allowing the rich to get away with their crimes.

America's addiction to terrorism

Presents the argument that the United States populace has become obsessed with the term "terrorism" and has been blind to America's own forms of terrorism abroad and in its social fabric at home. Explores the idea that violence and lawlessness have become normative in the U.S. and are even seen as organizing principles of life. Offers ideas for reversing this trend and recreating American politics in a less violent nature.

Though waters roar

[a novel]
2009
Languishing in a jail cell, Harriet Sherwood has plenty of time to sift through the memories of the three generations of women who have preceded her. As each story emerges, the strength of her family--and their deep faith in God--brings Harriet to the discovery of her own goals.

Great is the truth

secrecy, scandal, and the quest for justice at the Horace Mann School
"A shocking expos? of sexual abuse and the struggle for justice at one of America's most prestigious schools The Horace Mann School, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, represents the pinnacle of private education. With all its accolades and prestige, few could have anticipated the scandal that erupted in 2012 when The New York Times Magazine ran a cover story by the journalist and Horace Mann alumnus Amos Kamil detailing a decades-long pattern of sexual abuse by teachers. In Great Is the Truth, Kamil and his coauthor, Sean Elder, uncover the full story of what happened at Horace Mann, and recount what has occurred in the aftermath of Kamil's watershed article. With craft and poise, they reveal a high-stakes environment of demanding academics and barely hidden debauchery, where many faculty members exploited their unchecked and undue influence to horrifying ends. Fast-forwarding to the present, Kamil and Elder relate how survivors emerged and petitioned for redress with the aid of celebrity lawyers while administrators and trustees scrambled to protect the school and themselves. They also look closely at how other schools have responded to scandal, often with far greater compassion and candor. How can institutions rectify their complicity in abuse and prevent it from recurring? How can victims achieve their due? "Great is the truth and it prevails," may be the motto of Horace Mann, but for many alumni, the truth remains all too hard to come by"--.

Landry Park

2015
In a futuristic, fractured United States where the oppressed Rootless handle the raw nuclear material that powers the Gentry's lavish lifestyle, seventeen-year-old Madeline Landry must choose between taking over her father's vast estate or rebelling against everything she has ever known, in the name of justice.

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