Renton activist promotes memoir “Return to the Sunlight”

John Houston’s book details trauma of experiencing racism, losing his family’s land, his 36-year addiction and his recent work fighting for fairness in housing, including the passing of a state law inspired by his story.

By Bailey Josie • November 6, 2025 1:30 pm

Renton’s own John Houston has written a book about his life and has been promoting it throughout King County with a recent book signing at the Renton VFW Hall.

Put on by the VFW Hall and the Renton Chamber of Commerce, the book signing event on Oct. 19 brought local community leaders and supporters of Houston together, including Renton City Councilmember Valerie O’Halloran.

Titled “Return to the Sunlight: A Story of Hope, Resilience, and Redemption,” Houston’s book talks about his family’s move from Jim Crow Louisiana to Washington state (“The Great Escape”), his first day of school at Honeydew Elementary where he was called a racial slur (“An Idyllic Life Shattered”), his life on his family farm, the series of events that led to his parents finally giving into extreme pressure to sell their land to the Renton School District, the dissolution of his family (“The Breaking”), and 36 years of addiction and how it further splintered his relationships with his family, his wife and his children, before Houston eventually turned his life around.

“It’s all about treating traumas and childhood trauma and how that trauma went untreated,” said Houston. “This is a story that I wanted to return to the sunlight, not dwell on it. I wanted it to be known that John wasn’t born in darkness. We’re not born in darkness, we’re born in sunlight. We come home from the hospital and they’re pinching our cheeks and kissing us and making sure we’re fed, and that’s sunlight. My sunlight started to go way the first day of first grade.”

Houston talked about his time in drug court and how Jay Roof, a former judge for the Kitsap County Superior Court and the person who wrote the foreword for his book, helped turn his life around.

“I told him ‘I don’t like you’ but you know, I’m still toxic and he says, ‘I don’t care for you much either,’ but we still laugh about it today,” said Houston, adding that Roof had been the one to bring drug court to Washington state and how drug court had helped him in his recovery. “I held a door open for a lady and that was my report for the week, something as simple as that. That started to work me back to some kind of a normal life, to call my daughters.”

Houston also talked about his life since becoming sober, like his work in seeking reparations from the Renton School District, the unanimous passing of Senate Bill 5142 (the Houston Eminent Domain Fairness Act) in early 2025, his public opposition to the school district’s expansion of Renton High School and his recent induction into the Hazen High School Hall of Fame.

“I hope you guys enjoy reading the book. I hope you won’t get hung up on the bad parts,” said Houston. “There were some ugly parts with my daughters, my grandchildren, my ex-wife. I believe in God and have asked for forgiveness and they’re all in my life today.”