'The sun does shine'

Lawyer Bryan Stevenson has helped make the sun shine again for some 115 men, among them Anthony Ray Hinton of Montgomery, Alabama.

Stevenson, who founded and directs the Equal Justice Initiative, added Hinton to that number this past April, after he served more than 30 years on death row.

“The sun does shine,” Hinton said at his release.

Stevenson’s book, “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” is this year’s selection for MSU and East Lansing’s One Book One Community. Stevenson spoke with City Pulse about the Hinton case and his book from his Montgomery office.

“Hinton could’ve been released 16 years earlier,” Stevenson said. “We had the evidence, but we couldn’t get it accepted. There was such resistance in this case. (The prosecutors) seemed more interested in executing an innocent man than admitting their mistakes.”

Stevenson, who grew up in a racially segregated community, feels that unequal justice for the poor is based on a legacy of racial injustice.

“Danger has always been consigned to the black and brown,” he said, adding that he believes this leads to a higher rate of incarceration.

Even though he has seen examples of coerced testimony and bungled evidence in the cases he has represented, Stevenson argues that a majority of the innocent on death row are there because they couldn’t get the legal help they needed.

“If they had (competent legal help), these cases would’ve turned out differently,” he said.

Although Michigan doesn’t have a death penalty, mid-Michigan residents may recall the 2005 case of Lansing resident Claude McCollum, who was unjustly convicted of the murder of a Lansing Community College professor — allowing a serial killer to go free in the interim. Matthew Macon was eventually found to be the actual murderer, and a closer look at McCollum’s case revealed that McCollum’s confession was coerced and that evidence showing his innocence was covered up.

Community members and MSU students will have two opportunities to hear Stevenson speak this week. Sunday at 7 p.m., Stevenson will speak at a free event at the Hannah Community Center. Monday he will address incoming freshmen at the MSU Academic Welcome at 9 a.m. at the Breslin Student Events Center.

Another One Book One Community program on Sept. 16 will give the community a chance to see award-winning filmmaker Eugene Jarecki. His documentary, “The House I Live In,” confronts the problem of mass incarceration in this country — a problem he partially blames on the “war on drugs.”

Stevenson, 55 and a Harvard educated lawyer, credits his family’s influence for a career dedicated to helping those with no voice to find justice.

“I think my grandmother, who was the daughter of slaves and grew up in a South with lynching and racial terror, and my parents, who grew up around segregation, were critical,” he said. ”My grandmother would whisper in my ear, ‘You have to fight, you have to push.’”

In his presentation to incoming MSU students, Stevenson said that he hopes to make them feel uncomfortable.

“Being uncomfortable is necessary to make change,” he said. “I’m not averse to pulling students into to that.”

In a recent interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Stevenson posed a question: Who is responsible for racism? His answer, “We are.”

“We created the system, and we have to demand things change through our voting and activism,” he said.

Stevenson said he is very supportive of the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement and its efforts to bring more attention to the killings of unarmed black men.

“The culture of policing has to change, he said. “There are too many warrior police rather than guardians.”

The work of the Equal Justice Initiative is mostly supported by grants and awards won by Stevenson —including a 1995 MacArthur Fellowship (colloquially known as the “genius grant”) and a $350,000 grant from the Lannan foundation earlier this year.

Although his work over the last 25 years has hardly made a dent in the 3,100 individuals who are currently on death row awaiting execution, Stevenson is still excited about his recent victory for Hinton. “I’m really excited to have him out,” Stevenson said. “We are speaking to young people and helping him recover from his 30 years.”

One Book One Community

Kickoff With Bryan Stevenson 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 FREE Hannah Community Center 819 Abbot Road, East Lansing onebookeastlansing.com

MSU Academic Welcome

With Bryan Stevenson 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 31 FREE Breslin Student Events Center 534 Birch Road, East Lansing onebookeastlansing.com

An Evening with Director Eugene

Jarecki 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 16 $20/FREE for students and staff Wharton Center 750 E. Shaw Lane, East Lansing (517) 432-2000, whartoncenter.com