Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer that also owns his own firm called Equal Justice Initiative. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is a personal narrative of some of the cases he has witnessed during his time as a lawyer. The stories he tells are all of his firsthand accounts of individuals he’s encountered on death row. Stevenson travels to death row to meet with individuals who he believes did not get the representation that they deserved. He chose clients that he believed were wrongly convicted or given wrong sentences. The majority of the clients he targeted were Black individuals who did not receive a significant amount of representation during their trial. The story of Walter McMillian is told throughout the entire story, but is interrupted with other stories that are relevant to his message. Walter McMillian was a Black male that was wrongly convicted for a murder and sentenced to death. The fight for his freedom was long, but ended up ending in success.
We see these unfortunate cases in our justice system too often. Although every individual is provided with a lawyer during trial, the best lawyers come at a price. One of Bryan Stevenson’s most famous quotes says “… the opposite of poverty is not wealth but justice.”. I constantly think about this quote when I think about the systemic injustices we see today. Many Black individuals are not given fair treatment. We see cases of police brutality too often. Black people fear their lives when being pulled over by police. For White people, it is a completely different story. Bryan Stevenson turned his career as a lawyer into so much more.
Walter McMillian was nowhere near the scene where the crime he was accused of occured. He was convicted solely for the color of his skin. He was completely innocent, but did not have the money to pay for a lawyer that cared enough to fight for his innocence. He was seen as an “Other”. The police did not mind convicting someone who they knew was innocent upon the arrest because they needed to convict someone to put the town at rest. Bryan Stevenson has devoted his entire life to helping those who were oppressed by our government system. If you have not read this book, I really recommend spending some time learning about the inequalities that our justice system holds. The photo below is Walter McMillian and Bryan Stevenson celebrating their victory of getting Walter McMillian his life back!
