Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson
A Story of Justice and Redemption
Book Review
Just Mercy: The Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson, 2014, 318 pages
Connections between To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy
Most of us have read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Set in the town of Maycomb, Alabama where a young black male, Tom Robinson, is convicted of a crime despite his innocence. In another thread, a very white and reclusive Boo Radlely engages the gothic imagination of the child protagonists. Before reading Just Mercy, I must admit that I hadn’t fully considered that the character Boo Radley was given a break by the justice system. The Maycomb Sherriff showed mercy toward the strange, young, and white male who had meant well. Boo didn’t face much of a chance of conviction, yet the sheriff decided to hide some truths to protect Boo.
Just Mercy lifted a veil on the way I now see’ Mockingbird’ and on interpretations of humanity as expressed in our criminal justice system. Mockingbird includes an overall happy ending for most of the white characters and a tragic ending for the black characters. On the whole, that’s not much of a happy ending. It’s so obvious now, yet before, my main takeaway from the book was the righteousness and charisma of the father/lawyer Atticus Finch. I’d never considered how Lee might have changed plot lines if Boo Radley were black.
Movie lovers might note that the excellent movie Just Mercy concentrates on McMillian's story, and doesn't cover the memoirist's experiences and many other cases in the same depth as the book. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the performances by Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Brock Peters, Phillip Alford, and Robert Duvall, exceed the promise of a movie adaptation.
Structured Tales
Why all this talk about Mockingbird? Stevenson draws comparisons to the well-loved Mockingbird in the true stories chronicled in Just Mercy. He structures the narrative around a young black Walter McMillian, completely innocent of a crime, who has been sentenced to death. McMillian lived in Monroeville, AL, Harper Lee’s hometown, and was the inspiration for Maycomb. His real ‘crime’ was an affair with a white woman. He was convicted of murder despite his presence at a well-attended public event during the commission of the crime.
The nonfiction account compels page-turning and suspense within of the battles to save those caught in an unjust system. The judicial misconduct is so egregious, a novelist would be chastised for such outlandish plotlines. Stevenson alternates chapters so the reader is pulled through McMillian's events and the memoirist’s tale of dealing with scores of other cases in a fight for justice.
Just Mercy Offerings
The weight of the stories and inequities don’t lead to hopelessness. The reader is buoyed by Stevenson’s inner work to preserve his own sense of identity and hope. Alongside that hope is an anger that we participate in a system with a cruel underbelly. In many communities, one in three black males is in jail, in prison, or on parole. In Alabama, over a third of black males have lost the right to vote. For every nine death penalty executions, one convict is exonerated. Stevenson reminds us that for many in the U.S., the opposite of poverty isn’t wealth, it is justice.
Suggested Book Club Questions
How does the author use the theme of mercy across the arc of the book?
What emotions did you feel as you read?
Was Stevensons’ argument balanced in terms of considering victims of crime? Is he obligated to provide a balanced argument?
Do you feel compelled to act after reading? What can you do?
A version of this review of Just Mercy was previously published in a Sierra Club publication.