Two powerful and important reads …

REST IN POWER by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin

I began reading REST IN POWER by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin this past Sunday, Feb. 5th on what coincidentally would have been Trayvon Martin’s 22nd birthday. He was killed in 2012 just a few weeks after turning 17 and this story, told in alternating chapters by his parents, tells of the days before the shooting and the trial afterwards. Readers will be moved by the understated tone and calm presentation of Trayvon’s story and his parents’ efforts to not forget and to find meaning in his death. They say REST IN POWER was written “in the hope for healing, for bridging the divide that separates America, between races and classes, between citizens and the police.”   

This message clearly resonated with Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, who noted, “Not since Emmitt Till has a parent's love for a murdered child moved the nation to search its soul about racial injustice and inequality. Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin's extraordinary witness, indomitable spirit and unwavering demand for change have altered the dynamics of racial justice discourse in this country. This powerful book illuminates the witness, the grief, and the commitment to reform that Trayvon Martin’s death has mobilized; it is a story fueled by a demand for justice but rooted in love.”

REST IN POWER received starred reviews from both Booklist and Kirkus.

THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL by Timothy B. Tyson

Undoubtedly you heard the news last week that Carolyn Bryant Donham had recanted her statements about Emmett Till’s actions prior to his horrific death over 60 years ago.  In 2008, she told Duke University historian and author Timothy B. Tyson that “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him.”  And Tyson has crafted a new book, THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL , based on her interview and many others, plus recently recovered court transcripts.  In fact, roughly a fourth of this almost 300 page book is bibliography, notes and index.  PBS’ American Experience has an extensive set of web pages devoted to The Murder of Emmett Till, including his killers’ subsequent confession which was published in Look  magazine in 1956.  

Tyson’s book covers the Emmett Till story, but also explains the political history of how those events prompted the modern civil rights movement and refers to many recent sad events involving racial profiling and violence.  THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL received a starred review from Booklist. We have numerous books and videos available in the library about Emmett Till including A Wreath for Emmett Till filled with 15 beautiful sonnets by Marilyn Nelson and Death of Innocence by Mamie Till-Mobley, another parent writing about a son’s too early death.