Just Mercy:

I went into watching Just Mercy expecting the setting of the film to be during the 1960s, but I was surprised to find out that the leading story of attorney Bryan Stevenson assisting an innocent man, Walter McMillan, in escaping death row played out in real life during the late 1980s and early 1990s. I searched my memory banks and could not remember hearing of his story at all.
Bryan Stevenson is the real-life author and attorney who dedicated his life toward freeing inmates wrongfully convicted on death row, and other serious issues related to ending mass incarceration and working toward stopping the placement of children as young as 13 and 14 in the adult population and on death row.

Just Mercy shows a young Bryan, played by Michael B. Jordan, who has graduated from Harvard and dedicated his life to serving the poor and incarcerated, at no cost through his Equal Justice Imitative. The film follows three men who are in cells near each other. Each with a sentence to die on death row.

For every nine people executed on death-row; there is at least one person found exonerated.   Bryan has some very strong convictions regarding justice and mercy.  He shares that the opposite of poverty is justice and the opposite of hopelessness is justice. He reminds me of Dr. King with statements such as:

“All men possess a right to dignity no matter what they have done.”
“A thief is not just a thief, a liar, not just a liar, or a murderer, just a murderer.”

He takes the idea of justice seriously not just fighting for Blacks to be free, but all men. He, however, recognizes the clear and unjust treatment of many African Americans as depicted in the film. The evidence against Mr. Walter was clearly fabricated. You will have to watch the film to see the blatant injustice and the stirring call to justice that Bryan’s character, Michael portrays. The film ends with Michael giving a brief speech sharing how everyone needs justice, grace, and mercy.

Jamie Foxx, in an interview, shared wise words that his grandmother told him in an interview about the film. His grandmother’s lesson was that a Black man can never make the same mistake as a White man. He was taught this at a young age to avoid having the idea that if he did make a mistake, he’d receive the same sentence as a White man.

The history of criminal justice in this country clearly shows that there is a problem and that Jamie’s grandmother was correct. Hopefully, this film can tug the heartstrings of those in power to make changes that will treat all people with justice and dignity as Stevenson calls for.