No Pretender: S1, E7

In this episode, Mary Moriarty, career Public Defender (PD) and chief of the Hennepin County PD’s Office in Minneapolis, provides a much needed perspective into the work of a PD, countering the public perception of PDs being public pretenders. Additionally Mary offers insight as to role prosecutors and judges can play in holding officers accountable and criminal system reform. Mary also talks briefly about the good trouble she’s gotten herself into speaking out about problems within the criminal system as well as racial disparities. Mary is an avid reader and has provided a list of must read books that she first thinks anyone working in the system should read as well as visitors to The Waiting Room. 

Mary’s Reads: 

“The Warmth of Other Suns” - Isabel Wilkerson 

 

This is a beautifully written narrative about three black families who moved from the south to northern cities during the great migration movement of the 20th century.  Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, this work is essential reading for Minnesotans who want to understand the challenges that African-Americans faced when they moved here, and still face today. 

"Locking Up Our Own" – George Forman Jr. 

 

 

This Pulitzer Prize winning book, written by the son of a prominent leader in the civil rights movement, tells the story of how black politicians (including Eric Holder), judges, and police chiefs embraced tough on crime initiatives that devastated communities of color in Washington D.C. during the war on drugs. A former public defender, James Foreman, Jr. uses his clients’ stories to show how punitive these measures were.   

"Locked In" – Jon Pfaff

Much of what we read attributes mass incarceration to the war on drugs, but this book challenges that assumption by pointing out that even if we released everyone jailed on drug offenses, the U.S. would still have the highest incarceration rate in the world. John Pfaff focuses instead on the charging and negotiation practices of prosecutors, and demonstrates that if we are serious about reducing our prison population, we need to address sentences for violent crimes.  

"Picking Cotton" – Erin Torneo, Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, and Ronald Cotton

This book was written by rape victim Jennifer Thompson, and the man she wrongfully accused of attacking her, Ronald Cotton.  Cotton spent 12 years in prison before DNA revealed the true perpetrator, leading Jennifer Thompson to search for the reason her identification was wrong despite being absolutely convinced she was correct. Cotton and Thompson alternate chapters telling the story from their unique perspectives. This is an excellent book for those who want to understand how the frailties of human memory can lead determined victims and well-meaning cops to create a dynamic leading to wrongful convictions.    

"Just Mercy" – Bryan Stevenson 

Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, movingly writes about his experiences as a black man representing poor men and women caught in an unjust system. EJI is a non-profit committed to changing the narrative about race in America. Stevenson most recently completed construction of The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the country’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people. His work connects slavery to mass incarceration.   

"Insane" – Alisa Roth

So many people in the criminal justice system struggle with mental health issues because we have simply criminalized mental illness instead of properly funding mental health resources. Alisa Roth explains how those with mental illness have been treated since colonial times, long before people were released from asylums without a proper safety net in the 60s.  Using compelling case studies from around the country, she reveals the devastating consequences of incarceration on the mentally ill and their families, and argues for more successful and humane alternatives.   

"Slavery by Another Name" – Douglas A. Blackmon

Many people believe that slavery ended with the civil war, but Douglas Blackmon’s book documents the forced labor of black men and women, who were jailed on made-up crimes so they could be leased to do the work of formerly enslaved people.  Blackmon writes of “Black Codes,” laws passed by legislatures to justify pretext arrests to fill the jails with people who were then leased to private corporations and landowners. This work is critical to understanding one way in which the legal system was used to sustain white supremacy.  

"The New Jim Crow" – Michelle Alexander 

Michelle Alexander’s book connects slavery, Jim Crow, and the war on drugs as racist systems of control.  She provides historical context for policies that allowed police to operate with little oversight – stopping, searching, and seizing people of color at will.  Ms. Alexander effectively demonstrates that the war on drugs was intended to be a war on black people, whom republicans viewed as more likely to vote for democrats.  This award winning book, published in 2010, changed the way many view race and the criminal justice system.    

"Charged" –  Emily Bazelon

Emily Bazelon beautifully tell the stories of a teenage girl accused of murdering her mother and a young man who possessed a gun to demonstrate the relatively unchecked power prosecutors have in the criminal justice system. Prosecutors decide whether a person will be charged and with what offense.  They have complete control over whether to offer a plea negotiation, the details of which may impact the client the rest of his or her life.  

"My Grandmother’s Hands" – Resmaa Menakem

Minneapolis therapist Resmaa Menakem writes that racism has caused physical trauma in everyone and that the path to wellness is understanding the trauma that resides deep within our bodies. Although the reasons why white, black and blue (police) bodies have experienced trauma from white supremacism differ, we will not work through our racial divide until we heal from the generational impact of trauma.  At the end of each chapter, Dr. Menakem offers exercises and practices designed to heal our bodies from trauma.   

"Colony in a Nation" – Chris Hayes

Journalist Chris Hayes uses the framework of a Nation and a Colony to discuss why measures of racial inequality – incarceration, income, employment, home ownership – haven’t improved since 1968.  Within our Nation exists a Colony, where fear leads to aggressive policing, which infringes on civil rights.  Policing in the Colony resembles occupation, which has led to the conditions that lead to the uprisings in Baltimore and Ferguson.  

"Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission" – Barry E. Friedman

Barry Friedman’s book outlines the problems we have created by refusing to police the police.  Illegal searches, warrantless stops, and invasive surveillance, enabled by sophisticated technology, are just a few of the issues that plague our country.  Add race and class to the mix and we need serious reform, which starts with the question, “What do we want the police to do?”    

"Between the World and Me" – Ta-Neisi Coates

This book is a letter to the author’s 15 year old son about how to live in a black body in this country.  The death of one of Ta-Neisi Coates’s classmates, at the hands of the police, caused him to reflect on this country’s history of destroying black bodies. The heart of the narrative is that race is a social construct and that people who identify as white do not believe they benefit from white privilege. If they achieve what he calls the “dream,” it is because of their own abilities and efforts.   

 

"Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" - David Grann

 

David Grann’s book investigates one chapter of white genocide against Native Americans.  After oil was discovered under their land, making them among the richest people per capita in the world, members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma Nation began to be murdered.  As the death toll climbed, the FBI began its first major homicide investigation, which it botched.  Although official records claim about twenty people were murdered, Grann’s detailed reporting reveals hundreds of victims. 

"Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America" - Richard Rothstein

Richard Rothstein’s book explains clearly how government policies, not individual choices, intentionally promoted residential racial segregation.  Rothstein dismantles many of the current myths about racial discrimination, such as black homeowners causing white homeowners property values to fall.  After documenting the intentional choices made by the government, Rothstein argues, contrary to the thinking of the U.S. Supreme Court, that there are constitutional remedies available to address these purposeful, discriminatory policies.