Power and Prejudice, Hope and Justice: What Reading Three Books Taught me About the World
“The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated and the condemned.” -‘Just Mercy’ (page 29)
All my life I’ve looked at all Lawyers as the bad guys.
Nothing but a fancy suit and big words. I’ve looked at the law as a dirty profession. I’ve looked at the courtroom as a battlefield of bloodthirsty savages drowned by lies and corruption.
Now I see some as superheroes. Superheroes that fend off evil with words; using mercy to redeem us and save millions.
Just Mercy, by Brian Stevenson is an autobiography written by an African American lawyer who dedicates his entire life defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system.
What I read was unforgettable; an idealistic non-for-profit lawyer advocating for compassion and mercy in the pursuit of true justice. The real-life Atticus Finch.
He is everything I want to be when I grow up.
The novel revolves around the conviction of Walter McMillian, who, in 1987, is sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite the only testimony against him coming from a criminal with a motive to lie.
Walter is a self-employed African American man who once sleeps with a white woman. After massive backlash on his mysterious success and romance, Walter is arbitrarily sentenced to death for murder.
The justice system at the time does not understand that “constantly being suspected, accused, watched, doubted, distrusted, presumed guilty, and even feared is a burden born by people of colour… [because of] racial injustice.” (Page 247–248).
He is later released from death row with the help of Bryan Stevenson, after six years of solitary confinement- where he develops severe mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Although times have changed, inequality and prejudice are unarguably still very prominent in society today. Even today, ‘we have a justice system… that treats you much better if you’re rich and guilty than poor and innocent.’ (Bryan Stevenson, ‘We need to talk about an injustice, TED’).
Wealth, and not culpability, shapes outcomes.
And yet we seem to be very comfortable.
Sara and Clare Bronfman; daughters of billionaire philanthropist Edgar Bronfman Sr, were convicted to five years in prison because of fraud conspiracies and serious racketeering. These two criminals have largely escaped prosecution — with Clare buying a plea deal with six million dollars, and Sara fleeing the US and living in France.
On the other hand, poor and elderly Air Force veteran- James Milton Dailey, is scheduled to be executed November seventh this year, and his lawyers are scrambling to save his life. Dailey’s alleged confession comes from jailhouse snitches who receive consideration in their own cases after a detective tries to get 15 other inmates to implicate Dailey. Our world is broken and overwhelmed by injustice and prejudice; two key themes explored in the text. There are no eyewitness, no DNA evidence and no other physical evidence connecting Dailey to the murder; just a wealthy and powerful prosecution.
The concept that innocent people should not go to prison — so that all guilty people go to prison— is now obsolete.
It is sickening to know that money literally buys justice.
The way Stevenson describes justice and mercy is very unique. He tells the story of how his grandfather is murdered by teenagers who are robbing him. Stevenson’s family were baffled that the teenagers had done something so “pointlessly destructive” (Page 221) as killing an elderly man who was in no condition to stop the robbery or fight back. Stevenson later learns that understanding these crimes requires understanding the history of the people involved; it is unjust to sentence people to death when they need rehabilitation.
Stevenson argues that everyone makes mistakes and will need to be granted mercy at one point in time. In the eyes of Stevenson, the death penalty, or sentencing children life without parole, perpetuates violence rather than justice. The text resonates the message that society looks at the incarcerated as aliens without understanding what their stories are. By sharing the stories of how he defends the convicted, Stevenson shows readers the backstories of these people, which is a prerequisite for the kind of empathy that can lead to mercy.
“The real question of capital punishment in this country is, not do they deserve to die, but do we deserve to kill?” (Page 260)
Right after reading this novel (three times if I’m honest), I had my state grand final debate on whether Australia should trade with countries that use the death penalty; which is quite ironic. One of my points was about how the death penalty is intrinsically bad. How prisons ought to be rehabilitative rather than punitive as the reason people commit crimes is because of their terrible upbringing. People who grow up in a violent household become violent people, and people that were abused as children become abusers. They are a product of their circumstances.
I learnt this from the book when Stevenson is defending a fourteen-year-old boy named Evan. His parents “were abusive and had drug addiction problems” (page 219), and he had been in and out of foster care.
He was the same age as me.
Evan is at his neighbour's house, who was giving him and some older boys drugs and alcohol. The neighbour, Cole Cannon, sends them out to buy more drugs, and when they return they found Cannon sleeping. The boys try to steal his wallet, but Cannon is startled and attacks Evan. The older boys hit him with a bat and Cannon dies shortly after. Poor Evan, with no money or supportive family, is sentenced to life without parole whereas the older boys had cut a parole deal with the prosecutor.
Evan is sent to the St. Clair Correctional Facility, a maximum-security adult prison, where he is “attacked by another prisoner who stabs him nine times.” (Page 220).
Most of my passion derived from my journey of reading stories about justice and prejudice, particularly Just Mercy.
We won, I ended up getting the best speaker award, and my speech was quoted as “one of the best I’ve seen” by the vice president of the Debaters Association of Victoria. Just Mercy has taught me about the prejudice and injustice in our world, and how empathy and mercy is the first step towards true justice. I know that I will forever advocate for justice, for mercy, and for all those prejudiced by our imperfect system.
Stephen King’s novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption explores banker Andy Dufresne’s time at the Shawshank State Penitentiary, after he is wrongfully convicted for the alleged double murder of his wife and her lover, resulting in a double life sentence.
The novel is narrated by Red- a fellow inmate- who recounts the injustices in prison, particularly the abusive guards and Warden Norton exploiting Andy’s banking expertise to launder money, and when Andy “fights back… he does his time in solitary” (page 109) for long periods of time. The novel ends with Andy breaking out of prison and fleeing to Mexico, the warden resigning, and Red being released from Shawshank and making his way to meet Andy.
King wants us to know that Andy is a symbol of hope for many prisoners in Shawshank, not only as someone who successfully escapes but also as a man who never lets prison crush his spirit.
Although there is no lawyer in the pursuit of justice, the book portrays the prejudice in prisons and the judicial system and has taught me that hope is our strongest weapon, especially in the face of injustice and adversity.
Unfortunately, in the real world, there are not many people like Andy- who stands up against the prejudice in prisons- as most prisoners are overwhelmed by the authority and power that guards and wardens have. Mental and physical abuse, unnecessary brute force, inhumane periods of solitary confinement; this is what the exploitation of authority does in prisons.
In 2014, Lithgow Correctional Centre- New South Wales, witnessed six police officers brutally assaulting a prisoner after a short verbal exchange. He was admitted to hospital with a black eye, neck, chest and rib injuries. The guards covered up the incident easily, by preparing fake reports and deleting CCTV footage.
If it’s that easy to cover up serious corruption, there must be countless incidents where nothing is happening after prisoners are mentally or physically tortured. We see this in the novella when Andy nearly gets thrown off a roof for asking a question, and the guard says he will make it look like an “accident…[where Andy] slipped on [a] ladder” (page 159).
With great power comes responsibility, however, the system of justice is far too submerged by corruption, prejudice and injustice to care. It was only until late 2014 that something was done about this misuse of power, as the guards were caught planting drugs in the same prisoner’s cell as an excuse to hurl abuse, trash his cell, and physically assault him in the name of “cell therapy”.
It’s disgusting, because the whole point of prison is to rehabilitate offenders and teach them about justice.
Ironically, they are taught that power means everything.
King sets an interesting spin on injustice, resonating the message that injustice drowns hope and that Andy has to escape before its weight collapses on his shoulders, and he is suffocated by corruption.
At Shawshank, prisoners are beaten within an inch of their life by the “stupid, brutal monsters” (page 201) that run the place every now and then, to instil discipline and to keep enforcing routine. Experienced inmates like Brooks are trained to this routine for so long, that they are used to the merciless way they are treated day in, day out. King tells us that since day one, when Andy witnesses the guards murdering an inmate who cries that he was innocent, he decides that he would not become another inmate to fall victim to the unlawful routine of corruption in Shawshank.
“Remember that hope is a good thing, Red, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” (Page 527)
In Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson is portrayed as someone that feeds hope to his clients and leads them to justice. In Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, hope is crushed by the injustices of the prison system, and the inmates are forced to comply with prejudice. Andy Dufresne however, is a unique individual, who never falls victim to corruption, and “never [develops] the walk that men get when the day is over and they are going back to their cells for another endless night — that flat-footed, hump-shouldered walk” (page 314). Similar to Stevenson, he feeds hope to those who need it- his inmates.
Whether it be opening up the biggest prison library in New England, his warm demeanour, inspirational antics, or breaking into the loudspeaker room to play opera music to the entire prison- Andy provides the inmates at Shawshank with hope, helping them get through each day.
He is a literal figure of hope.
All in all, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption has taught me about the corruption in prisons, and how we must always persevere and hold onto hope in the face of adversity and prejudice.
It’s hard not to feel a little more hopeful after reading this book.
Harper Lee’s unforgettable classic, To Kill A Mockingbird, is narrated by the character of Scout, who tells the story of how her father, Atticus, defends unfairly treated Tom Robinson, and how with her brother, Jem, and friend, Dill, explores the existence of her mysterious and isolated neighbour, Arthur “Boo” Radley.
As the story progresses, Scout learns many valuable lessons from Atticus, such as the injustices and prejudice in day to day life, how to consider other people’s points of view, and what true courage is.
Mockingbirds are described as innocent birds that do nothing but “sing their hearts out for us” (page 119). Lee wants us to understand that Tom Robinson, Atticus, and Arthur Radley are considered to be mockingbirds and that they are innocent victims of social injustice.
Tom suffers from prejudice and racism, as he is presumed guilty of raping Mayella Ewell merely because he is a man of colour in a world stratified by race. Even after Atticus proves his innocence, he is still sent to jail, where he is shot seventeen times. He is never seen as the compassionate man who helps Mayella every day despite having a family to feed. He is never seen as the hard-working man he is.
He is never even seen as human.
“ Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Page 119)
Atticus Finch is also illustrated as a mockingbird; he is always courteous, believes in morality and reason, and is one of the few characters in the novel that is not affected by prejudice. We see this when he has no problem with his children going to an African American church, or being raised by a black woman, and when he teaches Scout not to use racial slurs.
Atticus is a symbol of justice and believes that “You [will] never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into [their] skin and walk around in it” (page 36). Atticus is consistent on his beliefs of morality, and understands that individual conscience is the best guide to justice, despite “most folks… think[ing] they’re right and [he’s] wrong” (page 139). He is an admirable man of wisdom, compassion and courage.
Nevertheless, many people in Maycomb unjustly label Atticus as an outcast or a traitor, simply because he is defending a black man. Atticus however, remains strong and disregards Miss Stephanie Crawford’s catty gossip, Mrs. Dubose’s vulgar comments, and even Bob Ewell’s threat on his life, because he understands that “before [he] can live with other folks [he has] got to live with [himself]” (page 140).
Atticus Finch is truly one of the greatest heroes of modern literature.
“Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It’s knowing you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”
- Atticus Finch (Page 115)
Arthur Radley is a victim of social injustice, as he is labelled with the reputation of a savage or murderer who “dines on raw squirrels and… cats… and drools most of the time” (page), as he is mysteriously secluded from Maycomb due to several mishaps that happened when he was little. Scout, Jem and Dill go on many adventures to try and see “Boo”, not as a fellow neighbour, but as some sort of monster from a horror movie.
Lee explores appearance versus reality, as the false assumptions and rumours about Arthur characterise him as a carnival freak, whereas he is actually a caring, selfless individual. He sees Scout and Jem as his own children, which is evident when he stitches Jem’s tattered pants, when he places a blanket around Scout in the night, or when he parts items that are precious to him in the knothole.
Bob Ewell, even after winning the case involving Atticus and Tom Robinson, believes that Atticus made him look like a fool, so he attempts to murder Scout and Jem with a knife for revenge. Arthur saves them and kills Ewell, and the children realise that their stereotypes are wrong, and that “Boo” is a kind-hearted man.
Watching the unfair injustice that Tom Robinson faces purely because he is a man of colour, helps the children understand why Arthur lived in isolation. “It’s because he wants to stay inside” (Page 304), because if he didn’t, society would directly smother him with prejudice and hate. Just like Tom.
Earlier in the article, I talked about how James Milton Dailey, is scheduled to be executed November seventh this year, with no substantial evidence at all. Dailey is a mockingbird because he has done nothing but good in his life. He served the American Air Force for three tours in Vietnam and one tour in Korea. He was even was stabbed eleven times and almost died after he stepped in to defend a young, vulnerable woman from her violent boyfriend.
Like Dailey, there are many “Mockingbirds” in the world, such as disabled veterans who in public are at times dehumanised, and perceived as incapable. Or innocent citizens in Syria that protest for human rights, but end up getting killed because those with power have different ideas.
As I said before, our world is broken- and Harper Lee’s timeless novel, To Kill a Mockingbird has taught me that the reason behind this is social injustice and prejudice, yet despite what is happening, we must always listen to our ethical conscience and stay true to ourselves.
If you had asked me a year ago- “Why do we read books?” I would have said something plain and obvious, like- “for leisure” or “to enjoy”. After fourteen years of life, I have finally understood why we read.
To learn.
To learn about things like prejudice and power, justice and hope. To learn about traits to follow for becoming a virtuous person.
Whether it be using mercy to redeem people in the pursuit of justice like Bryan Stevenson, embodying hope in times strangled by corruption and darkness like Andy Dufresne, or standing for what is right despite the prejudice injected crowd thinking otherwise like Atticus Finch- books teach us valuable lessons.
And I will hold on to each and every one of them for the rest of my life.
