Just Mercy: An Urgent Call for Justice

This month, a number of studios are releasing movies about black people, by black people, for free on various streaming platforms in response to the #BlackLivesMatter protests that have taken over the world. I wanted to see Just Mercy in theaters earlier this year, but it was in and out so fast that I missed it. Having now watched it, I highly recommend you all do the same.

Based on his memoir, the movie tells the true story of Bryan Stevenson (played by the always incredible Michael B. Jordan, who also served as a producer and was instrumental in getting this film made), a black lawyer who got his degree from Harvard and then went to Montgomery, Alabama, to found the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to helping prisoners on death row by either reducing or overturning their sentences. We follow Bryan’s initial struggles to set up the office, and the near-constant racism he has to deal with from the white police officers, lawmakers, and residents who think he should leave well enough alone as he attempts to get Walter McMillian off of death row.

Walter is played by Jamie Foxx, in a painfully quiet and heartrending performance. He has been languishing on death row for years when Bryan finally arrives and takes a look at his case. It is immediately apparent that the evidence that was used to get Walter the death penalty was flimsy beyond belief. Everything hinges on testimony from a white felon who claims Walter killed a young white woman, but as Bryan questions Walter’s family and reads through the police transcripts, it is increasingly clear that there is no way Walter committed this crime. And now he will set out to convince the state of Alabama of this fact.

Watching Just Mercy is an infuriating exercise. It is an excellent movie, with two actors at the top of their game, and a compelling script that in isolation would read like a taut and compelling thriller. But you can’t watch this story in isolation, because it is an all-too common one. A black man is framed for a crime and is punished by a bunch of racists who don’t even understand how racist they are because their horrific attitudes have been systemically embedded into policing and the law. There’s the judge who denies an appeal despite a clearly articulated argument and the actual witness reneging on his previous testimony. There are the police officers who threaten Stevenson just because he is a black man trying to help another black man out. There’s the constant hum of white people telling black people “they must have done something,” with the utter conviction that being black means you are guilty before being proven innocent. None of this is new. But it continues to be galling.

Just Mercy highlights a lot of the key reasons people are out protesting in the streets today. It may be a movie about one specific trial, but by the end, Stevenson has unveiled the corruption throughout the police department and the court. The movie even ends with the horrifying statistic that for every nine people who have been executed, one person has been exonerated - how can we tolerate that error rate? How can we allow the justice system to continually dole out these horrifying inequities? How can we continue to hire police officers who are brimming with unconscious (and oftentimes wholly conscious and loudly declared) racist biases to serve our communities and keep us safe? At this point, who are they keeping us safe from?

It’s no wonder that the rallying cry at protests has become Defund the Police. And for readers who haven’t gone beyond the sound bites, let me make it very clear that “defund” doesn’t equate to “abolish.” It means moving some of the money that is used to fund the police to other programs that could better solve the problems that our communities face. For example, dispatching trained social workers or mental health professionals when a call comes in about a non-violent domestic disturbance. Many police departments are getting millions in funding while mental health programs and social services are crumbling. It’s time to redress the balance and pursue other options where we don’t arm our police like the military and give them fear-based training that teaches them to shoot first and treat everyone around them like an enemy. And it’s time to laud the work of organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative and men like Bryan Stevenson, who are doing the work we should have all been doing all along. So join a protest, donate to these causes, or at least watch all the movies that are being made available to you this month so you can better educate yourself and start to chip away at those biases within you. We have a lot of work to do. Let’s get started.