A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom

I had no idea. I knew criminal justice reform was a "thing" but had no solid understanding of why. I knew black people were being sent to prison in numbers that suggest targeting. I thought they were "just" going to prison (I don't mean it like that -- I'd sooner die). I had no idea we were literally burying 20 -something black people alive, and at a pace that suggests intentionality.I couldn't help but try to put myself in the shoes of both the author and her clients. I graduated from SMU Law School in 1985, and I saw (and consumed) more drugs in those three years than in the 35 years since. I suspect a chunk of my graduating class, possibly myself included*, could have been tagged with a life sentence had things broken against us. Had the police targeted Dedman instead of South Dallas, who knows how many lives would have been ruined.After that, anything about drugs dropped off my radarscope until this remarkable book. After 4 years of Trump, I don't got no more shock and outrage in me so I'm left with being sickened at the stories, knowing that there but for the grace of God go I, knowing that there are tens of thousands still buried alive under the flag of this nation that I love.I pretty much wasted my law degree although I did call on those higher level reasoning skills when raising three teenagers. I'm proud and not a little shocked that SMU is backing Britt's efforts.This is a very well written, insightful look into the excesses and racism endemic in our criminal justice system. It is a compelling read and I highly recommend -- no, in fact, I positively insist -- that you read it.Seriously, something has GOT to be done.*I never bought or sold drugs but it's not clear that's a requirement for getting caught up in this net.

I purchased this book because I knew the author & her family as we grew up in the same area. Our fathers went to school together & I frequently saw her grandparents in town. For one year we attended the same school & even at that young age Brittany always stood out. She was kind, friendly & incredibly smart. With all her struggles she’s risen out of the mud & bloomed into an incredible woman. These stories of her life have opened my eyes to the harsh realities people struggle with. Tears of pain & joy left my eyes. Stay strong Brittany & always follow your heart.

I finished this in 3 days. The author's story is inspiring and allows her to write about others from a place of empathy and understanding. Her ability to bring a human element to the many people who are unfairly incarcerated for minor, non violent crime is a gift. The most important part, to me, was highlighting the wasted talents of these people who have not received justice. The amount of personal strength that they display in the face of life imprisonment without is parole is incredible. Barnett's dedication to their freedom is admirable and has in turn inspired me to look into ways that I could also take action. Her story spotlights the urgent need to reform our criminal justice system NOW. I highly recommend this book.

Let me start by saying A Knock at Midnight is one of the best memoirs I’ve read in a long time and definitely a contender for my best books of the year. In it, Brittany K. Barnett shares her amazing life journey and at the same time makes clear exactly how the “War on Drugs” unfairly incarcerated hundreds of thousands of Black, Brown and poor people. Barnett shares her early experiences with drugs seeping into her own community, and how the law sought to punish without much regard to the level of involvement. Her mother spent more than one stint in jail including two years in prison on drug charges. More than anything, the heartbreak of visits to her mom in prison changed the course of Brittany’s life. Slowly she made the shift from a career as a high paid corporate accountant to a young attorney fighting to free people from ridiculously long, wildly unfair drug sentences.What I loved most about A Knock at Midnight was that Barnett put faces on the cruelty of the “War on Drugs.” Last summer I read books by Ibram X. Kendi, Ta-Neshi Coates, and others that talked about how the “100 to 1” laws started filling prisons with Black and Brown people in the 80”s, devastating entire communities and filling our prison systems to overflowing. In her memoir, Barnett shares the almost unbelievable stories of people she fought to free from the Federal Justice System. Their sentences were shocking, as the laws allowed more and more years to be piled on, often with little to no evidence. I learned so much from A Knock at Midnight, but it also had the “could not put it down” quality of a great novel. I’m so glad I read this memoir and I’m thankful that Brittany K. Barnett is the woman she is, doing the work she does. Add this one to your list of MUST reads!Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

A horrifying indictment of a cruel and inhumane system that has doomed tens of thousands of men and women to waste away in Federal prisons serving outrageously unjust life sentences. I literally had tears rolling down my face as I was reading this book. I highly recommend it for anyone who cares about righting wrongs and seeing justice truly being served.

This book is a must read! You will laugh, cry, and most importantly LEARN about the racial injustices in the US prison system. Brittany is a brilliant writer and storyteller, which makes it a page-turner. You won’t want to put the book down! This book is great for book club discussions.

In every war, there is collateral damage. The less moral and more fierce the war, the more tragic the collateral losses. This is a story of some of the most heart-wrenching losses in the War on Drugs—the marginal participants in the drug trade who have been sent to jail with sentences of life without parole. Even when sentencing guidelines were changed to right this wrong, the changes were not retroactive. The story begins with Barnett’s childhood contact with drugs in her own family and then follows her heroic legal battle to get unjustly held citizens out of jail and then to help right systemic abuse of incarceration.

I can’t fine enough stars to tell you how good this book is. I was spellbound by it it’s got to be best book I have read and I have read a lot of books it just fantastic.

The war on drugs was and is a war on black folks in America. It’s a crime in search of a victim in the way it layers on enhancement after enhancement when it comes to reaching for culpability when sentencing people whose ‘crime’ was being born black and penniless. Brittany K takes you on a wild ride through crime and punishment in America.

A must read for everyone. We all should educated ourselves on a legal system that can fail us if we don't all work to make it better