Ford, Leon with Jeffery Renard Allen. An Unspeakable Hope: Brutality, Forgiveness, and Building a Better Future for My Son. New York: Atria Books, 2023.
This is a searing account of a young man who grew up in an economically distressed Pittsburgh neighborhood and was paralyzed when polic shot him during an unwarranted traffic stop. Ford offers important insights into the forces that shaped his early understanding of what it meant to be a strong, respected man. These insights are important for educators to understand if they want to establish caring and respectful relationships with students. Only through such relationships might they offer meaningful support to help students to achieve their full potential. From his own dark journey through pain, anguish, anger, and bitterness, Ford came to a new understanding of strength, power, and respect. He challenges many taken-for-granted assumptions about social activism and offers a compelling message of working to overcome divisive prejudices in order to create better opportunities for all children as well as more just communities.