Required Viewing - True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality
Bryan Stevenson, Founder/Executive Director of Equal Justice Initiative
Photo courtesy of HBO
“Those who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.”
What if the effects of said history have never gone away? And they have actually evolved into a different monstrosity. History is typically taught in classrooms as a series of singular events that are over, done, and behind us. Students are not taught about how it influences present-day government systems and public opinions. The subject is rarely brought into the context of our contemporary lives.
On the heels of a Congressional hearing for reparations, True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality opened up the AFI Docs Film Festival in Washington, DC. True Justice is an examination of America’s criminal justice system through the lens of Bryan Stevenson’s career as a public interest lawyer and founder/executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama. By following Stevenson’s long career of advocating for the wrongfully convicted, poor, and disadvantaged - the documentary draws a concise line between lynching, mass incarceration, and the death penalty.
During a Q & A following the film, Stevenson discussed the legacy of lynching and how there are so few places in the U.S. to talk about slavery, in order to get to the place of healing and liberation. He even called on institutions, such as the U.S. Supreme Court, to be accountable for their roles in the suppression the civil rights of African Americans.
“I actually think the U.S. Supreme Court should issue a special opinion where they apologize for their decision in 1876 that allowed lynching to take place for a 100 years,” said Stevenson.
Stevenson was referencing United States v. Cruikshank, where 150 African Americans were murdered in the Colfax Massacre of 1873. Several white men were arrested and convicted in the massacre under the Enforcement Act of 1870. The law was established to protect newly freed African Americans from violence during Reconstruction. The defendants appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court ruled that the Enforcement Act of 1870 unconstitutional. This ruling caused a ripple effect and led to an epidemic proportion size of lynchings, leading African Americans to migrate away from southern violence to northern cities.
The film goes into even more detail, drawing connections from lynching to wrongfully convicted death row inmates - like formerly imprisoned, Anthony Ray Hinton. Hinton was wrongfully convicted of murder and was on death row for nearly 20 years before becoming a client of Stevenson’s. In spite of the blatant evidence exonerating Hinton, state prosecutors refuse to reopen the case. Stevenson would have to take his fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which eventually reversed the verdict - freeing Hinton in 2015.
As we enter into the upcoming election season and with people on either side of the argument for reparations, True Justice should be required viewing for everyone. It is impossible to fully grasp the current state of our country and our criminal justice system without a painfully honest, thorough investigation of race in America. Stevenson is leading that dialogue with the vision that conversation and accountability will lead to liberation for all. True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality debuts Wednesday, June 28 (8 p.m. ET) on HBO.
