“Killers of the Flower Moon,” by David Grann Cover image courtesy of Penguin Random House

“I received a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice and have always been interested in true crime books. I’m usually drawn to those about serial killers but given the current state of racial injustice in our country, I stumbled upon ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ by David Grann. It was a story that I knew very little about. The Osage tribe in Oklahoma had their tribal lands sitting atop a gold mine of oil in the early part of the 20th century, and as they became richer, they had targets painted on their backs and hundreds of them were murdered in order to steal their oil land rights. What felt particularly despicable to me was how the Osage members were treated in both life and death. The majority of the murders went unsolved and even when a perpetrator was brought to trial, it was almost impossible to get a conviction because no one seemed to care about Native American lives at that time. It saddened me to realize that a century has gone by and the deaths of people of color continue to occur with little regard for their humanity.” — CHRISTA WESLEY, Portland