Analysis Of Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

Language can be the most influential meaning by which to spread a message. Whether that message is about something as minor as a question or something as major as a revelation. However, with language comes ways in which it can be used incorrectly and ways in language which it can be misconstrued. While the Indian Springs is an affirming community which values independent thought, it’s important to realize that all of us can be biased especially in the language we use. The school-wide reading book for summer assignments this year was Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson which highlights the legal disenfranchisement of minorities in the criminal justice system while also weaving in Stevenson’s personal experiences as a lawyer. The book centers around the story and trial of Walter McMillian, a young man who is sentenced to death for a murder of which he is wrongly accused. Because of the nature of this

I appreciate the lengths this school goes to in order to make everyone feel like they are in a space where they are love. However, like 98.1% of students in 2015 (Kosciw et al. 16), I have heard some of my classmates use the word “gay” negatively in the past year. I believe that the fact that responses to things like this include sayings like “that’s not okay” is a part of the problem. There are some students who simply do not care about the language they are using. To me, we shouldn’t highlight the fact that using jokes against a group of minorities is merely “not okay”. The fact of the matter is, we should make those kinds of jokes because I couldn’t sleep the night before this school year officially started. We shouldn’t make them because I spent the whole summer worrying that people were going to make fun of me. We shouldn’t make them because, whether people intended to mean it or not, it makes minorities feel unsafe in spaces where they are supposed to be