Just Mercy: One Lawyer’s Fight
My Day
Please, buy this book! Do not let the summer end without reading it. It will transform your understanding of mercy, justice and strengthen the need to exercise your vote.
What is the title? “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson”
This is a true story about an African American attorney fighting for black boys.
Did you read it? Yes, indeed, I did. This summer has been riveted with news about black boys.
One news story after another has been blatantly centered in our midst. Another senseless killing of a black male. And there is no escape. It does not matter if you go to college, get good grades, you still need mercy because of the ‘real war on black boys’.
“Just Mercy” is fiercely compelling. “Just Mercy” is a true story for mercy to redeem us and a cry to fix our broken system of justice. It is about the living black males who only exist if they join the justice club. We know that our jails and prisons are filled with African American boys. And we find those numbers repeatedly quoted to us about populations painful and sad. But this book is about someone doing God’s work, fighting for the voiceless, the outcast, the poor, and the oppressed. I read where Mr. Stevenson told a radio host that ‘we have a justice system that treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent.’ The book mixes commentary and reportage, triumph and failure, political rhetoric and common sense.
Not just a book, but for thirty years now, Attorney Stevenson has won relief for scores of condemned prisoners, exonerated a number of innocent ones and confronted abuse of the mentally ill, the mentally handicapped and children in prison. Now along the way, Stevenson has encountered tragic defeats. He points to a specific case involving the politics of crime, punishment and the hypocrisy it breeds.
The mission is clear and the message is an ancient one all familiar to blacks. Criminal justice in America seems criminal . . . complete with errors, misleading quotes and racism. Criminal justice in America is hardhearted because of its resistance to reform and learn from the obvious mistakes history has unveiled.
Reform starts with the mighty vote in every state in America. The last day to register to vote is approaching. Register, go vote and take your neighbor with you.
Stevenson is executive director of the Montgomery based Equal Justice Initiative.
Ester Davis is an award winning writer, celebrating twenty (20) years as
Host/producer of a signature tv show.
www.esterday.com
