Altars in the Street
A book by Melody Ermachild Chavis
-- Reviewed by John Emelin, CADP Board of Directors
Melody is the dean of death penalty mitigation
investigators in California, and her long-time
work with death-row inmates has flowered in many
forms.
This thin volume is a beautifully written memoir
of her awakening to the need for action in her
community, and what she and her neighbors do
about it. It is one of those books that you find
out about from a friend and find yourself giving
as a gift to someone else.
Along the path of anti-death penalty work, it
becomes almost necessary to refrain from reading every plea
for justice and seeing every movie in
which some unfortunate is executed, or, for that
matter, saved from execution. This one, however,
is worth the read.
Altars in the Street is inspiring,
thought-provoking. In the end you feel as if
you know Melody as a friend, and it's great to
have a special book you can pass on secure in
the knowledge that it is encouraging and uncompromising
at the same time.
