Anna Clinkman for Special Problems in Education

Just Mercy: I'll Fly Away Stevenson, B. (2014). Just Mercy. New York: One World Publishing. Pages 203-226. In spite of my focus on Walter McMillian's case, Stevenson's book isn't about McMillian's sentencing and subsequent time spent in the Alabama Court of Appeals alone. Through Stevenson's narrative, we have seen the birth of the Equal Justice Initiative, the development of Stevenson's legal team, and EJI's subsequent early courtroom successes. We've also seen Stevenson and his legal team fear for their safety -- and their lives -- as they've fielded threats from citizens of Monroe county and navigated the terrifying reality of a white supremacist turned serial bomber.  'I'll Fly Away' picks up six years since Walter McMillian's detainment. Through his battle in the Alabama criminal justice system, we have seen the impact of systemic racism on every level: Anti-black citizens. Police officers. Investigators. Prison wardens. Di

Just Mercy: Of the Coming of John  Stevenson, B. (2014). Just Mercy. New York: One World Publishing. Pages 92-114. In my last blog post, I draw lines between the narratives in To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy. In the chapter 'Mockingbird Players', Stevenson establishes himself as an esteemed attorney in his own right -- he isn't 'a real Atticus Finch', or 'the Black Atticus Finch', he's Bryan Stevenson, JD. We see him face systemic racism in his own way as he grapples with the Honorable Robert E. Lee Key over the phone, a man who is convinced of McMillian's guilt in spite of non-existent evidence and a swathe of evidence that actually suggests the contrary. In the chapter 'Of the Coming of John', we diverge from Harper Lee's white-centric lens again, this time in the focus on McMillian's extended family. We don't know a whole lot about the fictional Tom Robinson's family, aside from the fact that he has one, and it'

Just Mercy: Mockingbird Players Stevenson, B. (2014). Just Mercy. New York: One World Publishing. Pages 19-35. Harper Lee's  To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson are as interesting in how they're similar as how they're different. They're about structural racism in South Alabama; they're about the attorneys moved to action in the name of those marginalized by those holding power; they're about Black men who are wrongfully accused in violence against white women. Meanwhile, we see very different attorneys in Atticus Finch and Bryan Stevenson. There is a lens shift, as well: Mockingbird is written from a distinctly white lens, and Tom Robinson's ultimate demise is secondary to the fact that Atticus Finch is a hero because he tried . Conversely, Stevenson's lens in Mercy  centers on the Black experience -- as an attorney, as a convict, and as a member of a larger community in the South. Stevenson draws these parallels into sharp contrast