Bryan Stevenson, a public-interest lawyer devoted to helping the incarcerated and poor, was a special guest at Browning on October 30. Mr. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Alabama-based group, Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), which as its website notes, “has won legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent prisoners on death row, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults.” In fact, EJI recently won an historic ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court holding that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger are unconstitutional.
Mr. Stevenson’s book, “Just Mercy,” was selected as this year’s Common Book at Browning, so his arrival was much anticipated and his address as remarkable as his book. The Common Book is read by boys in Forms II-VI, Browning Trustees and faculty during summer recess. Mr. Stevenson, who was introduced by Head of Upper School James Reynolds, began his address by citing tremendous problems that require immediate intervention, such as the deplorable number of incarcerated people – some 2.3 million in the United States – including an increasing number of women in the last 20 years. “In the 21st century,” he said, “one in three Black male babies is expected to grow up and go to prison.” Mr. Stevenson explained, however, that he was not at Browning to talk about problems but, rather, solutions. “I hope you are prepared to create more justice in the world,” he said.
“Now is the time to make a difference,” he told his audience, then asked them to embrace four concepts, which he explained as follows:
Proximity is key. You can’t be too far away from the problems and issues. As in science and medicine, proximity to the process is what yields solutions. When you get close to a situation, you will discover powers about yourself that you had not realized before.
Change the world by changing the narrative. Policymakers have been allowed to make decisions rooted in fear and evil. Whenever that is the case, a poor decision will be made – one that ultimately violates other people’s rights. We need to change the narrative about race, which has been influenced by a history of racial inequality. A narrative of white supremacy still exists. The 13th Amendment only deals with involuntary servitude, and that is not enough. Especially in the south, victims of racial terrorism fled to cities to escape injustice.
We must protect our hope. You are talented and gifted boys. You need to stay hopeful. Injustice prevails where hopelessness exists. Today the rich and guilty prevail over the poor and innocent. We must stay hopeful and change these circumstances.
Be willing to do uncomfortable things. Position yourself to be uncomfortable, even though that’s hard. We can’t have justice without doing the uncomfortable. I represent those who are broken through abuse and neglect. I work in a broken system. The broken people teach us that we can do what we thought we couldn’t. I realize that I do what I do because I’m broken, too.
For details on Mr. Stevenson’s address, please click here to read.
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