When Justice Just Is

"This book will help keep generations of world-changers in the game, instead of tapping out because the struggle is too great." --Tim Coleman, Founder & Lead Pastor at Brown's Mill Church "[A] refreshingly honest and an inspiring read." -- Idelette McVicker, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of SheLoves magazine.com "This book [will] benefit those who run non-profits, those who work for them, and those who fund them." -- F. Volker Greifenhagen, Academic Dean at Luther College How do we reconcile joy and sorrow in a world that is both beautiful and desperately broken? Can we put the "human" back into "humanitarianism?" Is there a way to let go of disillusionment, hold onto hope, and redeem our pain for good? Author and non-profit director Katie Bergman explores these questions while reflecting on her geographically sprawling pilgrimage to pursue justice without being crushed by it. Driven by her personal experiences from Cambodian villages to Canadian inner-cities, from courthouses to street corners to orphanages, this book of confessions starts a dialogue about the trials and triumphs of seeking justice. The author's personal narrative weaves in a sequence of coming-of-age stories capturing her journey of learning to grieve without despair, to dream without guilt, and to serve without defeat. She will warm and break your heart with profound stories of intervening in human trafficking in Southeast Asia, teaching children with special needs in rural Mexico, spending austere summers planting trees in the rugged wilderness of northern British Columbia, and backpacking through Eastern Europe in self-imposed solitude. When Justice Just Is provides authentic insight, gripping challenges, and a global perspective of the joys and struggles of humanitarian work as the soul to a fresh conversation of learning to be kinder to the world while also being kinder to ourselves.

For much of the twentieth century improvement in the situation of disadvantaged communities was a focus for urban planning and policy. Yet over the past three decades the ideological triumph of neoliberalism has caused the allocation of spatial, political, economic, and financial resources to favor economic growth at the expense of wider social benefits. Susan Fainstein's concept of the "just city" encourages planners and policymakers to embrace a different approach to urban development. Her objective is to combine progressive city planners' earlier focus on equity and material well-being with considerations of diversity and participation so as to foster a better quality of urban life within the context of a global capitalist political economy. Fainstein applies theoretical concepts about justice developed by contemporary philosophers to the concrete problems faced by urban planners and policymakers and argues that, despite structural obstacles, meaningful reform can be achieved at the local level. In the first half of The Just City, Fainstein draws on the work of John Rawls, Martha Nussbaum, Iris Marion Young, Nancy Fraser, and others to develop an approach to justice relevant to twenty-first-century cities, one that incorporates three central concepts: diversity, democracy, and equity. In the book's second half, Fainstein tests her ideas through case studies of New York, London, and Amsterdam by evaluating their postwar programs for housing and development in relation to the three norms. She concludes by identifying a set of specific criteria for urban planners and policymakers to consider when developing programs to assure greater justice in both the process of their formulation and their effects.

"This book provides a compelling history, documentation and analysis of hate crimes committed against Navajos and Native Americans in the Four Corners"--

You haven't met Jesus until you've met him as a man of compassionate justice. When Justice is the Measure encourages those who follow Jesus to include the excluded, challenge cultural norms, confront corruption and advocate for those who are oppressed. Though injustice denies it, God intends human life to flourish. And God calls us to join the mission.

Gee Brooks is a young, idealistic probation officer in Maryland who wants to make a difference. She's one of the few officers who doesn't think a new case is a new burden. Gee believes most offenders have positive attributes, but she is caught in a criminal justice system that tries to catch offenders failing and then send them back to prison. Harsh punishment for offenders is the norm-the accepted culture. A tragic event with a parolee under her supervision propels Gee to confront both the system and the emotional scars buried within her. Enraged by the external tragedy, she erupts into an abrasive public confrontation with a powerful state parole commissioner. Gee and her officer friends-Huggie, Pepe, and Hattie-known as the Cuatro Amigos, spontaneously forge an unstoppable grassroots uprising. The humanistic revolution, as it's sarcastically referred to by the press, is on. The Cuatro Amigos hope to survive the punishment that managers and state officials have planned for them long enough to gain the support of the community. A story of friendship, healing, and leaning into conflict, Justice...Is Just Us demonstrates the power of support in changing behavior-from the mighty to the meek.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. “[Bryan Stevenson’s] dedication to fighting for justice and equality has inspired me and many others and made a lasting impact on our country.”—John Legend NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction • Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize • An American Library Association Notable Book “Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books “Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times “You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.”—The Washington Post “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.”—The Financial Times “Brilliant.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

In The Concept of Justice, Patrick Burke explores and argues for a return to traditional ideas of ordinary justice in opposition to conceptions of 'social justice' that came to dominate political thought in the 20th Century. Arguing that our notions of justice have been made incoherent by the radical incompatibility between instinctive notions of ordinary justice and theoretical conceptions of social justice, the book goes on to explore the historical roots of these ideas of social justice. Finding the roots of these ideas in religious circles in Italy and England in the 19th century, Burke explores the ongoing religious influence in the development of the concept in the works of Marx, Mill and Hobhouse. In opposition to this legacy of liberal thought, the book presents a new theory of ordinary justice drawing on the thought of Immanuel Kant. In this light, Burke finds that all genuine ethical evaluation must presuppose free will and individual responsibility and that all true injustice is fundamentally coercive.

Based on an actual wildcat strike that occured in 1979, There Ain’t No Justice, Just Us tells the story of a middle-aged college professor, and former seventies radical, who finds himself caught in the web of a mid-life crisis and a decaying marriage. In his search for a more authentic identity, he winds up leading a wildcat strike in a gritty South Chicago factory. Along the way he encounters a variety of leftists and African-American and Mexican industrial workers who lead genuine, if impoverished, lives. The wildcat strike becomes the psychological gauntlet through which the characters must pass to achieve personal integration. The professor’s quest for internal wholeness leads to a love affair with a radical feminist attorney and activist. In the end, the professor must choose between authenticity and love, or continuing his sedate, middle-class life. Ancillary characters, including Cecelia Sanchez, a Mexican-American college student, find themselves drawing psychological strength from the unfolding battle and engaging in their own liberation struggles—in her case, trying to find the inner spirit to move out on her own, away from her patriarchal family.