(Reviewed by Ann Onymous )
“Listening to King’s voice ringing out from the pulpit, i felt warmth begin to flow where only a wrung-out feeling had been. King’s tenor lifted me from within. His words were a balm for my wounds and his message soothed my soul. Dawn will come, the sermon promised. Even after the darkest night, dawn will come.”The title of this book comes from the Parable of the Friend at Night, which was the topic of a Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sermon – and there IS HOPE.
This is the encouraging, uplifting true story of a young woman whose mother was in jail while she was in law school. A case she was studying in class changed the direction of her life and the life of the woman who was incarcerated. After years, Ms. Barnett helped Sharanda Jones get released from prison. As part of the “war on drugs” in the 1980’s and 90’s, Ms. Jones had been incarcerated and sentenced to “Life in prison without possibility of parole for a first-time, non-violent drug offense.”
This book has been banned from prison libraries because it can give prisoners HOPE.
Hope that yes, the dawn will come and there is LIFE after a LIFE sentence. Ms. Barnett received Dr. King’s quote from a man imprisoned for life, to cheer her and encourage her. As she writes above, it refreshed her spirit and kept her going. After her experience with her own mother being imprisoned, she started a Girls Embracing Moms” program. This allows gatherings in prisons for girls and moms to be together in person. Ms. Barnett has said “when one person goes to jail the whole family goes to jail.”
After you read this book, you will be permanently changed. I went out immediately and bought several copies to share with friends. I now have a better understanding of the criminal justice system. The facts in these cases put faces to the people who are trapped by sentencing disparities. The ‘minimum mandatory sentences’ that judges had to impose on people are now being retroactively changed. I hope you will be inspired by this attorney’s work. She worked with Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy) and others, to free a number of people through the clemency initiative during the Obama administration. They continue to fight tirelessly to free more people through the “Buried Alive Project”.
I believe this book reveals the vitally important work that remains to be done. It is critical for everyone to “keep seeking the dawn.” Reading and sharing this will continue altering lives.
