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OverviewDeeply poignant and astonishingly personal, this “moving story of a death in Tennessee” (Bill Moyers) shows hope can endure, grace can redeem, and humanity can exist—even in the darkest of places It was a clash of race, privilege, and circumstance when Alan Robertson first signed up through a church program to visit Cecil Johnson on Death Row, to offer friendship and compassion. Alan's wife Suzanne had no intention of being involved, but slowly, through phone calls and letters, she began to empathize and understand him. That Cecil and Suzanne eventually became such close friends—a white middle-class woman and a Black man who grew up devoid of advantage—is a testament to perseverance, forgiveness, and love, but also to the notion that differences don’t have to be barriers. This book recounts a fifteen-year friendship and how trust and compassion were forged despite the difficult circumstances, and how Cecil ended up ministering more to Suzanne’s family than they did to him. The story details how Cecil maintained inexplicable joy and hope despite the tragic events of his life and how Suzanne, Alan, and their two daughters opened their hearts to a man convicted of murder. Cecil Johnson was executed Dec. 2, 2009. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Suzanne Craig Robertson , Sister Helen Prejean , Bill MoyersPublisher: Church Publishing Inc Imprint: Church Publishing Inc ISBN: 9781640655959ISBN 10: 1640655956 Pages: 240 Publication Date: 09 March 2023 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Not yet available  This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release. Table of ContentsForeword by Sister Helen Prejean Preface by Bill Moyers Prologue: A Long Way from Home for All of Us PART ONE: FAMILY Chapter One: It Started with a Phone Call . . . and Poetry Chapter Two: From the Back of the Courtroom Chapter Three: Daddies and Daughters . . . and a Personal Shopper Chapter Four: His Own Safety Net Chapter Five: Life in the Big City Chapter Six: Guilt (Mine) Chapter Seven: The Definition of Family Chapter Eight: The Cracks in Our Walls PART TWO: THE NIGHTMARE Chapter Nine: Surprise! We Should’ve Been Paying Attention Chapter Ten: “What a Family Is Suppose to Feel Like” Chapter Eleven: Connecting with Another Execution Chapter Twelve: Tick Tock Chapter Thirteen: Friends in High Places Chapter Fourteen: Protestors Chapter Fifteen: We Didn’t Think They Would Really Kill Him Chapter Sixteen: They Showed Up Chapter Seventeen: Deciding Which Lives Are Worth Sparing Chapter Eighteen: It Was Time We Knew Chapter Nineteen: More Puzzle Pieces Chapter Twenty: Thou Shall Not Kill—No Asterisk Acknowledgments Notes About the AuthorReviewsThis is Suzanne Craig Robertson's moving story of a death in Tennessee. While disquieting and troubling, the story is gracefully intimate, respectful of all parties, tender and moving. She subtly honors the emotions inevitable in a story of innocence and guilt; of our collectively taking a life; of race and politics, right and wrong, and of wrestling with questions haunted by biblical memories that we confront every day. -Bill Moyers Here's the truth: I choked up on the dedication page of this book and now, weeks later, I am still tearing up at random moments, still thinking about this incredibly moving story. Suzanne Robertson takes us with her and her family on a journey to a place that few of us want to see or understand better-but, for the sake of our humanity and community, desperately need to: Death Row. We are introduced to an inmate, Cecil Johnson, who is also a poet, a cook, a football fan, a once-neglected child, a family member, a friend, and a man for whom the justice system did not work as it should. To my amazement, the author gives us moments to laugh on this journey, moments of wonder and even beauty-as well as plenty of moments to weep. He Called Me Sister is a story of becoming family with someone whose life experiences could not be more different, a tale of tragedy and mishandled evidence and crushed dreams-but also of authentic connection and goodness and hope. He Called Me Sister is a must read for all those who are pro-death penalty, all those who are anti-death penalty and, truly, everyone in between. -Joy Jordan-Lake, bestselling author of A Tangled Mercy and Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous In this carefully reported, heartrending story of her family's personal relationship with a Death Row prisoner, Suzanne Craig Robertson interrogates the justice system's deep inequities, as well as her own journey from trusting in the system to seeing it for what it is-human-made, biased, and deeply flawed. He Called Me Sister is a captivating story of the power of showing up for one another, of choosing to be in community even in the face of ultimate unknowns. -Erin Keane, author of Runaway: Notes of the Myths that Made Me This is Suzanne Craig Robertson's moving story of a death in Tennessee. While disquieting and troubling, the story is gracefully intimate, respectful of all parties, tender and moving. She subtly honors the emotions inevitable in a story of innocence and guilt; of our collectively taking a life; of race and politics, right and wrong, and of wrestling with questions haunted by biblical memories that we confront every day. -Bill Moyers Author InformationSuzanne Craig Robertson is a former statewide legal magazine editor and bar association communicator. She holds a Master of Arts in writing and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ is a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph and author of the bestselling book Dead Man Walking. Bill Moyers is a veteran journalist, broadcaster, and author. Former managing editor of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com, his previous shows on PBS included NOW with Bill Moyers and Bill Moyers Journal. Over the past three and a half decades he has become an icon of American journalism and is the author of many books, including Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues, Moyers on Democracy, and Healing and the Mind. He was one of the organizers of the Peace Corps, a special assistant for Lyndon B. Johnson, a publisher of Newsday, senior correspondent for CBS News, and a producer of many groundbreaking series on public television. He is the winner of more than 30 Emmys, nine Peabodys, three George Polk awards. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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