#ilearnbecause

I’m not sure who made the recommendation that I read Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, but it felt like as soon as one person mentioned what a good read it was - everyone was talking about it. Maybe it was around the time that Judge Aaron Persky sentenced rapist Brock Turner to six months in jail. A sentence that a black man would have never received. The book just kept coming up.

So, I added Just Mercy to my Goodreads “want to read” list and thought little else of it. However, the more that was revealed about the case against rapist Brock Turner and the more I thought to myself. I should read this book. Now, I’m a mom of a young toddler, so there isn’t much reading going on in my world - at least not the kind that requires much thought and contemplation. However, I can listen to audiobooks during the long drives to and from work. Add to the fact that Bryan Stevenson reads his own audiobook (I believe every author should read their own audiobooks) and I was sold. 

Now, this has become the #summerofsocialjustice. I’m planning to read books on economic inequality, feminism and race. Here’s the booklist - influenced by librarians who are friends, fellow social workers, the Lemonade syllabus and my person infatuation with Jen Hatmaker and her clan:

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

We Should All Be Feminist by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Barefoot Church by Brandon Hatmaker

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore 

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Righteous Discontent: The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham

Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Bridges Out of Poverty by Ruby K. Payne