Bryan Stevenson is a distinguished black man who was born into rural Delaware in 1959. Stevenson was raised in an impoverished community where he discovered that there is an obvious division between human beings. He realized that life is much different depending on what class and/or race you are a part of (2009 Justice Prize 1). His minority status caused him to be repeatedly mistreated and misunderstood; nobody took the time to get to know him prior to making false assumptions and accusations. It was this mistreatment that caused Stevenson- whether he knew it or not- to enter his specific field of work.
As a poor black man, Stevenson encountered his share of mistreatment. Even once he became educated and was a practicing lawyer, the police were still preoccupied with the color of his skin. In Just Mercy, Stevenson recounts an incident that he had one
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He was listening to his car radio outside of his apartment when police drove by and immediately stopped and pointed a gun at him. The police proceeded to angrily question him and illegally search his car with their only “reasonable suspicion” being that he was a black man on the street at night. Upon their departure they told him that he “should be happy” they did not do anything more to him (Stevenson 49). People of authority are supposed to provide a sense of safety, but they appear to feel entitled to their racism because they can disguise it as being precautious. Stevenson ran into another racist authority figure later on in his novel when he was visiting a prison. As he entered the building he encountered a guard with a “clearly hostile attitude” (Stevenson 231) who conducted an unnecessarily extensive search accompanied by demeaning comments throughout. When the guard was done he was sure to mention that the car
In the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is a memoir where Bryan Stevenson guides us through his life as a lawyer for those who are death sentence. From 1983 when he was student at Harvard Law to 2013 where he lost a client he was defending for years , he takes us through several cases he has taken over the years and showed how they personally impacted him as not only as a lawyer , but a person as well.
In one incident when a white teenager Deryl Dedman ran over his truck over Black guy James Craig Anderson by passing a racial slur, “ I ran that nigger over” (Rankine 94)(10). This shows the white’s extra ordinary powers to oppress the black community and the failure of legal system
In light of the most recent election results I find myself worrying about the countless social and economic injustices that will perpetuate to occur in our country. I dwell on our history, of how our social welfare system created and continues to reinforce discrimination, privilege and oppression. How did we end up like this and where is that “American dream” promised to those within our boarders? Literary works $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer, Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill, and Bryan Stevenson’s book, Just Mercy: A story of justice and redemption, seek to describe how social injustices and economic issues manifest
America have a long history of black’s relationship with their fellow white citizens, there’s two authors that dedicated their whole life, fighting for equality for blacks in America. – Audre Lorde and Brent Staples. They both devoted their professional careers outlying their opinions, on how to reduce the hatred towards blacks and other colored. From their contributions they left a huge impression on many academic studies and Americans about the lack of awareness, on race issues that are towards African-American. There’s been countless, of critical evidence that these two prolific writers will always be synonymous to writing great academic papers, after reading and learning about their life experience, from their memoirs.
Bryan Stevenson wrote a book called Just Mercy, which is about the failures in the criminal justice system. He tells the stories of victims of horrible injustices. He uses pathos as a narrative technique in order to persuade readers to feel empathetic towards the people about whom he wrote in his book. Stevenson uses pathos to have the reader feel a variety of emotions, specifically sympathy, anger, and hope because he knows that those emotions have more influence on the readers.
Richard Wright, hero to the black American, was one of the first men to fight for equality among blacks and whites. In his writings, Richard expresses to white people what kind of hardships all young negroes go through and how this lifestyle affect their behavior. For it is our surroundings that often influence the way we react depending on the situation. After Wrights death may other novelists and authors were inspired by him and continued the fight for equality, among them James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Ann Petry, and Chester Himes. Although the final chapters of his life closed many years ago, Richard's hopes and dreams today remain an open book.
Bryan Stevenson reveals the horror truth of mass incarceration, which has been viewed as the modern day Jim Crow, through his memoir Just Mercy. For a majority of the book, Stevenson elaborates on the case of Walter Mcmillian, a black male, who took pride in his work as a successful entrepreneur with his lumber business. He earned the respect and admiration of strangers; but, was seen as “pleasant, respectful, generous, and accommodating” by those who knew him well and appreciated his presence (pg. 25). Although, he did have his flaws, as he was known to frequently cheat his wife, and his current mistress at the time was white, Karen Kelly― which, unfortunately, this makes him a perfect target for a false accusation. On June 7, 1987, Walter was
The plight of the civil rights movement stands as one of the most influential and crucial elements to African-American history. We can accredit many activist, public speakers, and civil rights groups, to the equality and civil rights that African-American men and women are able to have in this country today. We see repeated evidence of these historical movements describes in fiction, plays, TV, and many other forms of media and literature. An artistic license is provided to many authors developing these concepts amongst their writing. When examining specific characters and literary works you can see an indirect comparison to the personality traits, actions, decisions, and journey to that of real-life historical figures.
The way Staples structures this essay emphasizes his awareness of the problem he faces. The essay’s framework consists mostly of Staples informing the reader of a scenario in which he was discriminated against and then following it with a discussion or elaboration on the situation. This follow-up information is often an expression stating comprehension of his problem and than subtitle, logical criticisms toward it. For example, Staples describes women “fearing the worst of him” on the streets of Brooklyn. He then proceeds to declare that he understands that “women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence.” Staples supports this statement with information about how he had witnessed gang violence in Chester, Pennsylvania and saw countless black youths locked away, however, Staples pronounces that this is no excuse for holding every young black man accountable, because he was an example of a black man who “grew up one of the good boys” coming “to doubt the virtues of intimidation early on.” This narrative structure highlights that Staples is not a hypocrite because he is not show ignorance toward the problem he is addressing unlik...
Bryan Stevenson states that in the U.S one out of three black men are either in prison or on probation/parole. Within the criminal justice system, it has been brought up that there is still racial and wealth inequality. Stevenson argues that one is likely to be treated better if they are rich and guilty opposed to being poor and innocent. Identity becomes a factor in this controversial issue when it is clear that no one is fighting for the equality. Stevenson brings up the point of the issue not being personal. If the problem is not personal, then it’s not the problem of the community. However, he argues that if no one will address problem, then the problem will never get solved. Similarly, Bryan Stevenson proclaims that within the nation, identity is based solely on how the poor is treated. People in poverty have a lack of opportunity, and they are often blamed and mistreated for this unfortunate way of life. Stevenson goes on to say that “the opposite of poverty is not wealth, it is justice.” What he means by this statement is that poverty is unjust. The fact that one is less fortunate the most should never be the reason to be mistreated. Recognizing that poverty is injustice is a positive way of improving one’s identity because may be the start of dealing with one of the nation’s many
The main focus is the prisoner in the cage, but the indirect description of the guard as “brusque” portrays him as a no nonsense, insensitive human being. Stevenson purposely does this in order to introduce the antagonism of the guards, then once a preconceived notion is established he replaces insensitivity with cruelty, “but then the guards…started making fun of him and treating him more harshly than usual” (Stevenson 272). Stevenson subtle approach to the description of the guards through implicit descriptive language is what allows Stevenson to appear as a reliable source, thus giving him the ability to profess more of his opinions throughout the text. By the end of Just Mercy, countless passages of prison guard brutality are shared, but very rarely does Stevenson tell his actual thoughts, but instead he expresses himself through his word choice making the work appear more factual and less biased than it actually
African-Americans aged 12 and up are the most victimized group in America. 41.7 over 1,000 of them are victims of violent crimes, compared with whites (36.3 over 1,000). This does not include murder. Back then during the era of the Jim Crow laws, it was even worse. However, during that time period when there were many oppressed blacks, there were many whites who courageously defied against the acts of racism, and proved that the color of your skin should not matter. This essay will compare and contrast two Caucasian characters by the names of Hiram Hillburn (The Mississippi Trial, 1955) and Celia Foote (The Help), who also went against the acts of prejudice.
Staples describes his experiences in Chicago of being racially profiled, for example: people locking car doors as he walked by, people crossing to the other side of the street after seeing him, or police officers assuming him to be a threat. Then, Staples moved to Brooklyn and experienced similar responses, seen as “a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact” (136).
The main character is completely alienated from the world around him. He is a black man living in a white world, a man who was born in the South but is now living in the North, and his only form of companionship is his dying wife, Laura, whom he is desperate to save. He is unable to work since he has no birth certificate—no official identity. Without a job he is unable to make his mark in the world, and if his wife dies, not only would he lose his lover but also any evidence that he ever existed. As the story progresses he loses his own awareness of his identity—“somehow he had forgotten his own name.” The author emphasizes the main character’s mistreatment in life by white society during a vivid recollection of an event in his childhood when he was chased by a train filled with “white people laughing as he ran screaming,” a hallucination which was triggered by his exploration of the “old scars” on his body. This connection between alienation and oppression highlight Ellison’s central idea.
The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man decided not to fight for racial equality in America for his fellow African-American, or even for himself, but rather conformed with the white majority thus selecting the uncomplicated path: the path that would lead him to security and safety in the years to come. After struggling with his identity in the white and African-American community as a “colored” man who could pass as white, he decided to discard his “colored” roots and stick with his white origin. By doing such a thing, he was able to live a simple, respectful, and safe life, but he abandoned a very significant part of his identity. He felt slight remorse towards the end of the novel, but self-interest held more importance to him than embracing the cultural heritage of the African-American community.