“Organizer is kind of a grand term for what I was doing. I answered an ad that the Presbyterian Church of Chicago put up on college campuses. I was at the University of Kansas, and it's somewhat relevant to my life and work that I'm a Jew. But they weren't doing a religious litmus test. They wanted energetic, civil-rights-committed college students to come help them run some summer programs.” KindHelpingRunningWantedTermChurchReligiousRightsStudentsCollegeSummerProgramTestsUniversityCommittedJewCivil RightsChicagoRelevantAdsEnergeticCampusKansasOrganizerCollege StudentsPresbyteriansCollege Campus Author:Sara Paretsky
“This was a very progressive group of clergy who foresaw the race riots that were going to take place when Dr. King started helping the local civil rights community push for open housing. They were sort of hoping against hope that we could educate kids in a way that could counter some of the racist messages they were imbibing at home. I don't know whether we did any good, but it changed my life in every single way.” KnowsWayHelpingHomeKidsCommunityRaceRightsGroupsChangedKingsMessagesLocalsCivil RightsRacistProgressiveEducateDrsHousingRiotChanged My LifeClergyImbibingRace Riots Author:Sara Paretsky
“I had a fantasy as a child that I might be a writer someday. I always thought that meant you went to New York or Paris. But after that intense summer, I never thought that I wanted to live any place but Chicago. It also made me see what the stakes were in the civil rights movement. And it made me see what real hatred was like and the forms that it took. But it also made me understand how powerless ordinary people feel in their lives.” PeopleFeelsChildrenMadeRealMightWantedFormFantasyRightsNew YorkMovementSummerOrdinaryHatredIntenseCivil RightsParisSomedayChicagoStakesPowerlessOrdinary PeopleCivil Rights Movement Author:Sara Paretsky
“I cannot find words to express the depth of my loss or outrage about what's happening to this country. I don't know if I can find the words for it, but if this country ever recovers, it will not be in my lifetime. If I were elected President, the first thing I would do would be to set up a Department of Restoring the Bill of Rights. I would have 10,000 people working there.” PeopleIfsKnowsFirstsI CanCountryWould BePresidentLossRightsHappeningsBillsLifetimeDepthDepartmentOutrageBill Of RightsRestoring Author:Sara Paretsky
