who has for many years worked intensively, in his daily actions, for the abolition of the death penalty. Bryan Stevenson is a courageous representative of all the individuals, women and men from the entire world, who have maintained tirelessly that the right to life cannot be controverted, that the death penalty is an ultimate form of torture, and that the state does not have the right to kill its citizens.
#Non-fiction Just Mercy
- Author: Bryan Stevenson (1959)
- Title: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Published: 2014 (film version: 2019)
- Trivia: Time Magazine – 10 Best Books Nonfiction 2014
- Trivia: The New York Times -100 Notable Book 2014
- Trivia: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2015
- Trivia: Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction 2015
- Trivia: B. Stevenson had founded a nonprofit, Equal Justice Initiative.
- Stevenson has advocated for the release of over
- 140 prisoners facing capital punishment.
- Trivia: HBO documentary film True Justice wins 2019 Emmy Award.
- List of Challenges 2020
- Monthly reading plan
- My list of books about black lives
Introduction:
How did I discover this book?
- Author was interviewed on CNN this year.
What is the book about in a nutshell?
- Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer.
- One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian.
- He was sentenced to die for a murder he did not commit.
- Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and
- …political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter.
- This is a coming of age story for this young litigator.
- It is a look at the lives of those he defended.
- It is an inspiring argument for compassion in pursuit of true justice.
Core message:
- Bryan Stevenson argues that slavery morphed into lynch law
- which then morphed into segregation and
- today, into mass incarceration
- …all of which reflect a desire to control and subjugate black people physically.
- Simply avoiding subjects because they are hard
- …leaves injustice to fester.
- USA: let’s just not talk about the past
- …let’s not talk about race.
Introduction:
- Higher Ground
- – Stevenson visited death row for the first time, he met Henry.
- The gospel Henry sang after meeting Bryan Stevenson
- for the first time: I’m pressing on the Upward Way.
- …was so impressive!
- I immediately listened to it on Spotify!
- LISTEN…so beautiful.
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith on Canaan’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where these abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.
Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith on Canaan’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.
Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith on Canaan’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
Chapter 1:
- Mockingbird Players:
- – backstory about Walter McMillian, the man on death row.
-
Walter was victim of…
- white paranoia about interracial relations,
- the scapegoating of an innocent black man,
- a hasty conviction that flew in the face of evidence and common sense, and
- town authorities bent on execution.
- On November 1, 1986, the body of 18-year-old part-time
- clerk Ronda Morrison was found under a
- rack of clothing at Jackson Cleaners in Monroeville, Alabama.
- Morrison, who was white, had been bludgeoned,
- strangled and shot three times. About $35 was missing.
- Walter was charged for the crime.
Chapter 2:
- Stand
- – backstory about Bryan Stevenson as an attorney
- in Atlanta Georgia.
- The title of this chapter refers to the great song by Sly and the Family Stone
- LISTEN…this really brings the reader in
- the mood for the theme of this book: struggle for justice!
Snippets of the lyrics….written in 1969 but still applicable in 2020!
There’s a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you’re going anywhere
For the things you know are right
It’s the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
You’ve been sitting much too long
There’s a permanent crease in your right and wrong
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you’re saying makes sense and all
Don’t you know that you are free
Well at least in your mind if you want to be
Chapter 3:
- Trials and Tribulation
- – backstory of Walter McMillian’s arrest June 7, 1987.
- details about McMillian’s trial and experiences on death row.
Chapter 4:
- The Old Rugged Cross
- – hymn requested for Herbert Richardson’s execution….LISTEN
- – backstory starting new nonprofit law center in 1987, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
- – backstory of the clients the center tried to help
- Horace Dunkins…Herbert Richardson in 1989.
- Desperate men calling EJI looking for hope after hearing of their execution date.
- In this chapter…it was difficult to read about the last hour
- …before an execution on Herbert Richardson.
- Now I can appreciate how difficult it must be
- …trying to help men on death row.
- Strong point: In debates about the death penalty
- …quote: ” I couldn’t stop thinking that we don’t spend
- much time contemplating the details of
- …what killing someone actually involves.”
- The Team in 2020: Equal Justice Initiative
- …a nonprofit that works toward ending excessive punishment,
- …including mass incarceration
- …with author Bryan Stevenson in the front row.
Chapter 5:
- Of the Coming of John
- Title: refers to chapter 13 in W.E.B du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk
- Du Bois relates the story of John….needless to say it has a sad ending
- …that relates to Walter’s situation:
- The story symbolizes Du Bois’s belief that all
- …African Americans are doomed to be lynched
- whether literally or metaphorically in 19th- and early 20-century U.S. society.
- In this way,
- …John (…or Walter McMillian) can never be free in life
- —his only path to freedom is through death.
- – Stevenson (lawyer) visits Walter McMillian’s in prison and his family.
- Stevenson develops trust necessary to deal with
- …the litigation and stress of execution.
- We must realize how much a lawyer’s support means for these families
- The family doesn’t have much but they give into Stevenson’s care
- Walter….someone they deeply love.
Chapter 6:
- Surely Doomed
- – this is such a sad story
- …highlights the case of a 14 year old boy named Charlie.
- 5 feet tall, 85 pounds and now in jail
- …with adult prisoners who abused him.
- Stevenson did manage to get him to a juvenile facility
- …and a chance to survive.
- You don’t read about these cases in the newspaper
- …but I shudder to think how often people ignore evidence
- …logic and common sense to convict someone
- …even a 14 year old boy.
Chapter 7:
- Justice Denied
- – Walter McMillian’s appeal is denied.
- Stevenson would have to figure out who really
- …killed Ronda Morrison to win Walter’s release.
- Lawyer …..becomes detective!
Chapter 8:
- All God’s Children
- – this entire chapter was very hard to read
- about juveniles in adult prison
- …Trina, Ian and Antonio.
- Trina:
- 1976: for a tragic crime committed at 14 years old
- …Trina was condemned to life in prison.
- 2014: now 52 years old…she is one of 500 people
- in Pennsylvania, condemned to life without parole for crimes
- they were accused of committing
- …when they were between 13-17 years old.
- I don’t know how lawyers sleep at night
- …when confronted with US justice system.
- They feel helpless…but keep fighting for justice.
Chapter 9:
- I’m Here….refers to McMillian’s elderly mother announcing
- …she takes her seat in the court room!
- “I may be poor, I may be black, but I’m here,”
- – Stevenson presents NEW evidence to prove McMillian is innocence.
- Finally…On February 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
- reversed McMillian’s conviction and ordered a new trial.
- On March 2, 1993, prosecutors
- dismissed charges against McMillian and he was released.
Chapters 10-16 (investigate the last chapters yourself….)
- Mitigation
- I’ll Fly Away
- Mother, Mother
- Recovery
- Cruel and Unusal
- Broken –> this chapter….is SO POWERFUL!!
- The Stonecatcher‘s Song of Sorrow
- Epilogue
Conclusion:
- This is a stunning…and at times shocking book.
- I know there are many people wrongly convicted and sent to jail.
- But to read just these few cases Bryan Stevenson presents is
- …so difficult to comprehend how often justice is denied in the USA.
- His nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative has
- …helped so many innocent victims of the justice/prison system.
- EJI was awarded the Olof Palme International Human Rights Award 2000
- …and deservedly so.
- #MustRead
- PS: …I would NEVER move to Alabama!
Last thoughts:
Reading this book was like drinking fortified wine.
It was heavy and sweet and bitter and swirled in my head long
after I put it down.
And I put it down often, consuming it in slow sips.
Honest and eye opening…
the world needs this raw honest truth.
“…It’s when mercy is least expected
that it’s most potent, strong enough to break
the cycle of victimization victim hood and suffering.”
(Bryan Stevenson, page 294 chapter 15 ‘Broken’)
who has for many years worked intensively, in his daily actions, for the abolition of the death penalty. Bryan Stevenson is a courageous representative of all the individuals, women and men from the entire world, who have maintained tirelessly that the right to life cannot be controverted, that the death penalty is an ultimate form of torture, and that the state does not have the right to kill its citizens.
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