Embracing the uncomfortable and inconvenient
In observance of the PULSE Program’s 50th anniversary, the Winston Center, in collaboration with the Lowell Humanities Series, hosted Bryan Stevenson, who gave a rousing and inspiring talk in front of a large crowd in Conte Forum. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and he is also a lawyer, activist, NYU professor, and author. His book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is a memoir that tells his story of moving to Alabama after graduating from Harvard Law School and fighting injustice within the legal system. It has been turned into a film, where Stevenson is played by Michael B. Jordan, that will be widely released in early 2020.
He shared the story of finding his passion in life. While studying law, he worked for a firm that sent him to inform a death row inmate he would not be executed for at least a year. This interaction turned into a three-hour conversation, where Stevenson realized that condemned people are not treated properly in our system, and he became determined to change that course.
Stevenson began his talk by challenging all members of the Boston College community to do more in order to close the “justice deficit.” He classified this issue as one caused by the massive expansion of the jail population in recent decades. Due to this, one-third of black male babies born today will end up in prison. Stevenson labeled this crisis an “absence of hope” in communities today.
His approach is to focus on solutions instead of problems. He stressed to the audience that we must commit to getting closer to the poor and isolated. Instead of staying away from the bad parts of town, we must interact with them. This would allow people to understand issues in a way they never can in isolated pockets of wealth and security. He used the example of his late grandmother telling him she will always be hugging him as an analogy to how we can affirm each other’s humanity in times of struggle.
In order to tackle the issues of justice and inclusion, Stevenson presented a few key changes that need to occur. The first is changing the narratives and debate around the war on drugs. Instead of using “the politics of fear,” we must see drug use as a mental health issue and not an act of crime. This also applies to the conception of young children of color as “super predators” who need to be tried as adults.
The next issue Stevenson addressed was racial inequality, which is driven by a cloud of history hanging over the nation. While slavery has been removed, the racist ideology used to justify it still exists today in society. Instead of fading away, slavery simply evolved into new forms after emancipation. Instead of embracing our faults in a process of truth and reconciliation similar to Germany after the Holocaust, American society fears our past and won’t talk about race.
Stevenson concluded with the message that we must be willing to embrace the uncomfortable and inconvenient aspects of society if we ever want to make a change. He explained that proximity to broken people makes you realize we are all broken.
He left the audience with four life lessons to draw upon:
1. We are all more than our worst moment
2. The opposite of poverty is not wealth but justice
3. We are judged by how we treat the poor and neglected
4. Do not ever think grades or income determine our capacity to change the world
Christopher Murphy ’20, Winston Ambassador
Read Heights article “Stevenson counsels 'proximity' to the marginalized”
Presented with Lowell Humanities Series and PULSE Program.