Bryan Stevenson Speech Summary

Bryan Stevenson’s speech was an inspiration for everyone, his story was filled with personal anecdotes that represent everything that he stands for. He’s the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which combats unfair sentencing and tackles the issue of discrimination. Throughout his lecture he mentioned several ways in which he has overcome the bias in the criminal justice system against African-Americans and people in general, being specially inclined toward children and death row convicts. I admire that from the very beginning he was ready to talk about injustice, and it was disappointing to hear his experience as a law student in Harvard Law, where he expected people to talk about the unfairness that minorities face on a daily basis,

First, his experience as a law student coming to prison to tell a death row convict that he didn’t have his execution date has not yet been set. He gave the man hope, and the chance to bid farewell to his family. But the story showed more than the warm heart that Bryan has, it demonstrated the behavior of prisons, proving one of the many flaws in the justice system. He was astounded at the way the guards mistreated the inmate, even after Bryan’s several attempts to make them stop, blaming himself for spending too much time talking to the prisoner. When the guards were taking the inmate out of the room, the man stopped, readjusted his feet to the ground, and started singing. The impact that this scene had on Bryan was life-changing, and the way he spoke about it so diligently proved that. I perceived this experience as one of the key moments in Bryan’s career and legal path, he truly recognize the law as a tool for

There are a lot of people still trying to work through the issue of racism and inequality, people that are still trying to solve the gap, but he suggests that this issue is for everyone, and it’s not up to just a few people to help create change, but up to everyone. As an aspiring law student, I was inspired by Bryan’s approach to the legal system, how genuine he is when discussing the issues that he cares about, and how passionate he is to what he has dedicated his life to. The Eighth Amendment talks about cruel and unusual punishment, and this is what Stevenson has fought for throughout his entire career. Cruel and unusual punishment to death row inmates, and cruel and unusual punishment to children who are subjected to the adult court rather than juvenile. Furthermore, although I believe that we have come a long way in terms of inequality, I concur with Stevenson’s approach that we still need to change the narrative and embrace the past as a lesson in history, that will allow us to grow both as persons, and as a