Bryan Stevenson, Pursuer Of Justice

Do you know Bryan Stevenson?  You should.  He's an attorney, civil rights leader, author, and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama.  He's fought against excessive criminal sentencing for minors and the mentally ill, has defended death row prisoners, and has worked to free those innocently imprisoned.  Bishop Desmond Tutu has called him "America's young Nelson Mandela."  Others say he's a real-life Atticus Finch.

Bryan Stevenson is a truth-teller, and a major righteous dude.  A sampler:

"The narrative of racial difference was created to sustain and legitimize slavery.  It has compromised almost every institution we've created and continues to haunt us."

"Lynching was terrorism."

"We are, each of us, more than the worst thing we've ever done."

"A person who is rich and guilty has a better chance in the criminal justice system than someone who is poor and innocent."

"Everywhere you go, when you look at who gets stopped [by police], who gets searched, who gets menaced, who gets threatened, and who is suspected, race plays an extremely significant role."

"Here in Alabama, President Obama received less of the white vote (under 13%) than any Democratic presidential candidate in our state's history.  Things are still pretty racialized.  The number of complaints we get about overt bigotry and bias has increased over the past 6 or 7 years.  Obama's election has stirred a lot of racial animosity."

"Even with our history of racial injustice, the North Carolina legislature actually felt comfortable revoking, eliminating the state's Racial Justice Act."
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(Link to an interview with Stevenson in today's Charlotte Observer.)

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article19549932.html 

To get a real feel for this man, you could spend 20 minutes and watch this compelling video from Stevenson's 2012 TED Talk.  Long, but worth it.