by Jared Crain, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor

Bailey Albertson | Campus Carrier

On Monday evening in the Cage Center Arena, lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative Bryan Stevenson silenced the stadium with poise and precision speaking on social justice and incarceration prejudice with regard to race. 

Stevenson incorporated his book, a memoir that was used for first year summer reading titled “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” into the lecture.

However, Stevenson nearly didn’t write this memoir advocating social justice in the first place.

After Stevenson conducted a TED Talk, a writer told the lawyer that he would write a book about him, with or without his consent.  Upon hearing this, Stevenson decided to write the memoir himself to avoid the circumstance of a publication with inaccuracies.

“I went into it a little bit under threat,” Stevenson said. “I was actually very apprehensive about it.”

Nonetheless, Stevenson explained that once he got the basic structure down for the memoir, he was pleased with the opportunity.

“Interestingly, it became very cathartic for me,” he said. “It was an opportunity to get people to really see and discuss issues.”

Director of First Year Experience Katherine Powell explained that the Berry faculty and staff stumbled upon the book after hearing that a number of other schools similar to Berry have recently required or encouraged students to read Stevenson’s memoir.  

They read the book for themselves to see if it would suit the First Year Experience curriculum.

“What we look for is a book that is both accessible and interesting, but will also challenge students in some way,” Powell said.  “Stevenson is a compelling storyteller in his memoir as he relates challenging topics, which is perfect for discussion.  It wasn’t a hard decision.”

According to freshmen Annie Small and Kendall Aronson, the memoir indeed served as a compelling read that made an emotional connection toward modern racial conflict and injustice.

Aronson and Small explained that Stevenson’s book, revolving around the death row case of Walter McMillan, was a firsthand glimpse of the victimization of certain groups, particularly incarcerated blacks with false or heightened sentences.

“There were many times while reading that I started crying,” Small said.

Stevenson focused his discussion at Berry with the same challenging persona with which he wrote his book.

“I believe in identity,” Stevenson said. “When you create the right kind of identity, you can say things to other people, you can say things to the world, that make a difference.”

Stevenson listed challenges that everyone must strive to accept in order to change the world, the first being that people must reject distance.  They must get close with condemned people in order to bring others and themselves to higher ground.

After he explained the power in proximity, he encouraged the notion that people must change the worldly narrative, stay hopeful and be willing to undergo difficult situations and tasks.

“I cannot find any examples of change in history when we didn’t have to do uncomfortable things,” Stevenson said. “If you do uncomfortable things, it will break you, but there is power in brokenness.”   

A student’s capacity to change the world isn’t measured on the same scale as grades or finances, according to Stevenson. 

The more knowledge one gathers, he said, the more conviction one builds up in his or her heart to honorably take on the afflictions of others.

According to Powell and freshmen Small and Aronson, Stevenson’s memoir indeed served as a chance for students to view social issues like racial injustice in a new light and build up group discussion regarding identity, hope and the potential to make a difference in the world.