Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

"My years of struggling against inequality, abusive power, poverty, oppression, and injustice had finally revealed something to me about myself. Being close to suffering, death, executions, and cruel punishments didn't just illuminate the brokenness of others; in a moment of anguish and heartbreak, it also exposed my own brokenness. You can't effectively fight against abusive power, poverty inequality, illness, oppression, or injustice, and not be broken by it.

We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent." - Bryan Stevenson

Just Mercy is a book about Bryan Stevenson, a defense attorney who founded the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama. The book largely centers around the Bryan Stevenson's defense of Walter McMillian, a framed, innocent man on death row. Stevenson works tirelessly to defend him and other clients who seek his help to avoid execution or have their sentences reduced.

Stevenson's strength is in his expression of vulnerability. Stevenson describes how taxing it is to do the work of defending people, and more importantly, he describes the terror of failure. His description of going to death row as one of his clients was executed is heartbreaking, even though the client was guilty of a crime. His account of waiting, compassion and frustration is painstaking. Stevenson astutely points out, "Some state officials expressed happiness and excitement that an execution had taken place, but I knew that none of them had actually dealt with the details of killing [Stevenson's client]".

The book is powerful. Stevenson comes across the paths of many interesting people from a Vietnam veteran to a prison guard with a truck draped in Confederacy memorabilia to Rosa Parks. Parks humorously and poignantly responds to Stevenson's description of himself and his work by saying "Ooooh honey, all that's going to make you tired, tired, tired." "That's why you've got to be brave, brave, brave."

Just Mercy resonated with me because I can relate to a lot of the things that Stevenson points out. Early in the book, he uses W.E.B. Dubois's "The Coming of John" to describe his own life. He talks about John (and himself) as the hope of a community. Stevenson talks about the fact that his family doesn't include many college or high school graduates and that even though the people in his community don't ask him for anything he still felt "a debt accumulating". I also sometimes feel the burden of that "debt."

When I left defense work, I didn't have the type of bravery that Rosa Parks discusses. I observed a young defendant with great lawyers go to jail for life with no chance of parole and I decided that I no longer wanted to do that work. I wasn't worn out because losing affects the ego of lawyers. I was worn out because of the pain of knowing that people were going to spend long times in prison and the limits of what I could do to help. I have a lot of respect for the people who have the bravery to lose cases and go back for the next client and the next one. I have quite a few friends who work in the field of criminal defense that are fighting through that struggle every day. For a number of reasons, I decided that I didn’t' want to fight that fight any longer.

Perhaps I'll continue to find jobs where I'm far away from those struggles. I enjoyed doing anti-money laundering work because bank statements don't cry, don't spend birthdays in jail, and don't worry about family members. But, as painful as the work is, I still sometimes long to help people, as an attorney or through another career path. Maybe I'll get over the weaknesses that prevent me from returning. As Stevenson writes, "Sometimes I forget that we all need mitigation at some point."