Grace Will Lead Us Home

Grace Will Lead Us Home: the Charleston church massacre and the hard, inspiring journey to forgiveness by Jennifer Berry Hawes,  311 pages

This is a reporter's extended and behind-the-scenes account of the terrorist attack that killed nine black congregants in their church on June 17, 2015. Dylann Roof posted pictures of himself with a confederate flag and other white nationalist symbols, told a friend of his intent to murder black church people, posted a white nationalist manifesto, drove to the church, joined and was welcomed by the pastor and members of a bible study held at Mother Emmanuel AME Church, and then, late in the meeting, brandished his gun and killed Myra Thompson who was in the process of ordination and was leading the study for the first time, Pastor & State Senator Clementa Pinckney and seven others.

Most of the above is common knowledge along with the public confrontation and courtroom forgiveness initiated by Nadine Collier, daughter of Ethel Lance, who Dylann Roof had murdered and President Obama's eulogy for Senator/Pastor Pinckney, where he broke forth into "Amazing Grace." What is less know are the stories of Steve Hurd and others who could not forgive, the survivor's struggles to forgive members of their own family, the questions about subsequent church leadership, concerns about Emmanuel leadership's handing of financial donations, the personal and institutional difficulties of the church and its members in moving forward, the history of generations of the church members and leaders -- which included co-founder by Denmark Vesey who planned a massacre to throw off the yoke of slavery but was hung himself in July of 1822 along with 35 others. Such real life stories fill out the headlines and the transitory news and help us to have some understanding of the deep pain, struggles and history of the June 2015 massacre in Charleston.

Ghosts of Gold Mountain

Ghosts of Gold Mountain: the epic story of the Chinese who built the transcontinental railroad   by Gordon H. Chang,  312 pages

This is indeed an epic story of the Chinese who were primarily responsible for building the western and most challenging section of the U.S. transcontinental railroad which was completed about 150 years ago. Gordon Chang's story begins by describing the politics and life of the Guangdong province in southern China from which most of the railroad workers, young and male, were recruited and it ends with a description of Chinese women working in San Francisco brothels and Chinese people being driven from the western cities that they populated. Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR), financed by an act of congress, initially did not want to hire Chinese laborers but other workers deserted and the Chinese proved their skills, work ethic and willingness so they became the primary builders of the challenging western section of the railroad. 

The planned route required traversing steeper grades and than any other railroad previously built; it would involve more dynamite to blast tunnels through parts of the mountain, and great human risk to builders who packed and lit explosives and hammered chisels to cut beds into its cliffs. CPRR did not even keep a record of the names of its Chinese workers nor did they ever publicly acknowledge the death of a single railroad worker. But by drawing on reports of Chinese benevolent associations, newspapers, historical associations, reports of freight cars carrying remains from mass accidents, Chang fills in some silence from the railroad records and estimates that 1,200 of them died in the project. The railroad Chinese worked harder and faster than other crews but were paid less so, without a union, they organized a strike which approached parity in  wages along with recognition and  time to celebrate Chinese holidays. 

Railroad Chinese were not only killed by the engineering feat for which they worked, they were also killed by "the great purge" to rid the country of them: In October of 1871 a mob of 500 attacked the Chinese quarter in Los Angeles, burned buildings and lynched 18 Chinese in the streets: the largest lynching in American history. Twenty five people were indicted for murder but none were convicted. Five years later, the white citizens of Truckee, a town made possible by the railroad, formed a Caucasian League, burned the cabins of Chinese woodcutters and then shot them as they fled. Truckee citizens used violence, arson and intimidation to drive other Chinese citizens out until the town's 1900 census indicates that there were only two Chinese people left in town. Such were the bitter ironies of the Chinese workers who built the transcontinental railroad. Their men were recruited to build the wealth of those who planned it and then their women were enslaved to satisfy the lusts of men.

A Strangeness in My Mind

A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk
599 pages

Long time since I've read a novel this good! Love the connections between marriage and vocation, religion and family, the struggle to make ends meet and happiness, city and village. These themes are wonderfully connected in the life and loves of a boza seller who moved to Istanbul at age 10 and came to a keen awareness of the meaning of love in his mid 50s. Marvelous!

The Community Land Trust Reader

The Community Land Trust Reader
by John Emmeus Davis
600 pages

This reader is an excellent introduction to Community Land Trusts (CLTs), with history, case studies, technical references and anticipated hybrids. CLTs are shown to be the best way to preserve affordable housing over time and across generations, and to mitigate urban gentrification. The sweep of thought, geography and history shows the broad application of the model: from Henry George's thoughts on taxation, India's Gramadan movement, Koinonia Farms in Georgia, Dudley Neighbors in Boston, and the Woodland CLT in Appalachia, readers see the broad principles and common benefits of viewing land primarily as a trust rather than primarily viewing it as a means of speculation and profiteering.

Work Optional

Work Optional Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way

by Tanja Hester

288 pages

This book is the best of a few that I've read about retirement and finances because its start, center and focus is not on earning enough to retire but on defining what kind of a life you want before and after retirement. Finances are clearly a part of any retirement (or work-change plan) but money should be in the service of life goals not the other way around. The book was practical and focused with enough detail to offer guidance in defining goals, outlining a process to work with life partner these, making a financial plan to accomplish those goals, reviewing the plan and putting the plan into practice through retirement, semi-retirement or a gap year -- through savings, lowering expenses, increasing income for a time, or finding new streams of income. In prioritizing life-goals the book does not assume keeping present house, location, cars, expenses, health insurance, meals out, lifestyle, etc. but identifies financial options in these areas to review so that bigger goals can be accomplished.

Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys

Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way   by Richard Twiss
272 pages.

Richard Twiss reviews the grim story of Christian missions among Native Americans in United States missions as an attempt at cultural annihilation which was accompanied by national genocide, segregated resettlement and apartheid. The story includes the author's own stories along with his desire to claim his Native cultural and ritual roots but also to synchronize First Nation ways with a Jesus who honors rather than destroys his people's life-giving traditions.

The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ
by Fleming Rutledge
669 pages.

A significant theological help & a step toward Black Lives Matter: 

This is a powerful and thorough book. Not having grown up with animal sacrifice as the first (Jewish) Christians, I often have difficulty understanding the language and meaning of sacrifice as an explanation of Jesus' crucifixion. This book helps. It also makes a good effort to connect Christ with historic suffering of oppressed people in the world and United States. The books cover is photo of a stain-glass window in Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The window was given by people of Wales to commemorate the bombing of the church where four girls were murdered and fourteen others injured. In the photo one hand of Jesus is stretched out to put off Satan's oppressive powers, the other is open to embrace the victims of oppression. This is one of the stretched which killed Jesus and the book marvelously explores this tension and other significant biblical and historic discussions of the crucifixion of Jesus. With the late James Cone's book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, this books makes progress to understand and connect the meaning of the crucifixion with the history of black people in the United States. More work is needed to connect crucifixion with the death of Michael Brown and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The War on Normal People

The War on Normal People: the truth about America's disappearing jobs and why universal basic income is our future
by Andrew Yang, 305 pages

Though Andrew Yang's first performance in the national democratic presidential debate may not have advanced him into the lead among candidates, this book sets makes the case that basic income should be a presidential debate topic. The central argument is clear and well made: the next technological advance into robotization will displace a much larger percentage of workers than the industrial revolution displaced. Less workers will be needed in many fields and income disparity will continue dramatically increase. In this inevitable future, a universal basic income would establish a base of economic survival for all, the means for maximize participate in the benefits of innovations, and the means to promote local educational-artistic-community entrepreneurship that would enrich persons, communities and nations.

Gateway to Equality

Gateway to Equality: Black Women and the Struggle for Economic Justice in St. Louis by Keona K.Ervin, 269 pages

Ervin frames the book with two national protests in which black women in St. Louis organized an effective worker strike in 1933 and a renters strike in 1969. Before and between those major successes, Gateway to Equality identifies the backgrounds and passions of about a dozen major female organizers in St. Louis who had national experience and impact. The book highlights major justice work in the twentieth century and the central roles of female St. Louis activists during this time. 

Before cell phones and text messages, hundreds of women organized a strike across different plants because their wages were unlivable at $4.60 per week and had been lowered six times. Despite the general conceptual and organizational divide between church and communist perspectives, the women combined insights, organizing and emotions in their leadership. They organized to focus on issues of survival and justice, and to include rather than isolate different perspectives. 

Gateway reviews movements where women led in CORE and Southern Tenant Farmers Union; organized strikes for garment workers; organized boycotts and strikes for jobs against a defense contractor, banks, drug stores and neighborhood shops; ran effective campaigns for city and state political positions; created fair housing legislation; wrote reports on Missouri prisons; and organized unions.

In 1969 black working-class women led thousands of public-housing tenants from Pruitt-Igoe, Carr Square, Vaughn and Cochran developments in a strike against St. Louis Housing Authority (SLHA). The substance of their strike was an expression of dignity and a public demand for respect: the public needed to know that working women who made $75 a month in wages could not afford to pay $55 per month to house, feed, clothe and transport themselves and their children. They and their supporters carried signs that read “Sure Fire Riot Control—Lower Rent,” “March Now—Eat Later,” “Make the Roaches Pay Rent Too!” They demanded lower rents, increased representation on housing board commissions, improved maintenance, better pest control and police protection, improved utility services and financial transparency of the SLHA. Their protest was covered by national news, drew from a rich history of organizing by black women, gained almost all of its objectives, and influenced local, state and national housing policies.

Keona Ervin’s Gateway to Equality is important justice history, women’s history, and St. Louis history.