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By John Thompson.

Former President Barack Obama recently recommended his short 2019 Black History Month reading list: It included classics by and about James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, and Frederick Douglass; and Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.  The overflow crowd at Oklahoma Christian University’s Complex Dialogues with Bryan Stevenson would wholeheartedly agree with the recommendation. The bipartisan crowd left in awe, wrestling both with the reasons why Oklahoma is #1 in the world in locking up our fellow citizens, and what that says about us.

This first post will focus on what Stevenson said on February 18 at Oklahoma Christian University about our criminal justice system. A second post will discuss the role of the forum’s local advocates, liberals and conservatives from secular and religious backgrounds, who are committed to undoing the damage of mass incarceration.

Oklahoma and America have always had plenty of problems, with poverty being the origin of many of the most intransigent ones. Moreover, as late as 2010, the incarceration rate for black Oklahomans was nearly five times higher than for white Oklahomans. But Stevenson notes, “The opposite of poverty isn’t wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice.” And he warns us, “Until we reckon with the trauma our society has caused to people of color and people in poverty, we cannot embrace the truth and heal.”

Our state and nation have long had a political and economic system which proves the maxim that “power corrupts” and our district attorney system shows how “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Across the U.S., Stevenson said, “We have a system of justice that treats you much better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.” And the prison pipeline vividly illustrates the truth that, “Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.”

Years of litigation and research have taught Stevenson that “the closer we get to mass incarceration and extreme levels of punishment, the more I believe it’s necessary to recognize that we all need mercy, we all need justice, and – perhaps – we all need some measure of unmerited grace.”

It is hard for this Oklahoman to acknowledge that we are a case study of how “fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others.”

After more than 30 years of research and working “to free scores of people from wrongful or excessive punishment, arguing five times before the Supreme Court,” Stevenson is on firm ground in concluding, “I don’t think there’s been a time in American history with more innocent people in prison.” He has also learned that “capital punishment in America is a lottery.” Moreover, “The death penalty symbolizes whom we fear and don’t fear, whom we care about and whose lives are not valid.”

Stevenson’s book is exceptionally excellent in explaining another inherent problem with the death penalty – the use of police informants to convict innocent defendants. When visiting Oklahoma County, he voiced concern about the notorious conviction of Julius Jones. My former student was convicted after a highly questionable trial where the investigation was choreographed by two police informants facing 40 years to life. The jury could not know that one of would be rewarded with an extremely light sentence while the other faced no charges.

As shown by ABC’s three-part documentary, The Last Defense, Jones had an inexperienced public defender who acknowledged that he did a “terrible job” of cross examining the key witness who repeatedly contradicted himself when fingering Julius as the murderer. The only eyewitness testified that the shooter had up to an inch of cornrows sticking out from his hat, but the jury wasn’t shown contemporary photographs of Julius’ close-cropped hair. At least one juror heard a fellow juror say, “Well, they should just take that n—– out back, shoot him and bury him under the jail.”

Stevenson’s support of Julius Jones’ quest for a fair trial is a part of his campaign to change “the narrative of anger and fear,” which are “the essential ingredients of injustice.”  He is propelled by the belief that “we can change the world, that we can create more justice.”

Although the widely-heralded attorney came with a surplus of evidence, Stevenson understands that “you don’t change the world with the ideas in your mind, but with the conviction in your heart.” The crowd responded with standing ovation after standing ovation to stop “punishing the broken – walking away from them or hiding them from sight.” It was truly inspiring to see how Oklahomans responded to the affirmation, “We are living at a time where our friends of faith have to lift up our voices.”

The next post will show how this passion has led to a local evidence-based campaign that shows, to borrow Stevenson’s words, our state and country are “more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”

What do you think? Can we come together and answer for the injustices of the 1980s and 1990s abuses? Some cities have started to curtail prosecutors’ abuses. Is that possible in the rest of our country?

Author

Anthony Cody

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