Just watch “Just Mercy”
As a big movie buff, I really miss not being able to go the cinema for pure escapism and relaxation. I remember seeing some of the cast from “Just Mercy” being interviewed on a late night TV show and adding that to me to-watch-list and finally got around to watching it last week.
Jamie Foxx plays a character by the name of Walter ‘Johnny D’ McMillan , who is incorrectly convicted for the murder of Ronda Morrison. He receives new legal representation from a young lawyer by the name of Bryan Stevenson, portrayed by the excellent Michael B. Jordan.
I remember seeing a young Jordan in the Wire, co-incidentally my favourite TV show of all time, playing the likeable Wallace. It is great to see his career flourish into major Hollywood blockbusters, like Creed and Black Panther.
Don’t worry I will not give away any spoilers, Just Mercy is a true story, but hearing the 2 stars talk about the film, it reminded me of a very powerful and unforgettable talk I heard in 1998, in a Washington office.
It was day 2 of our orientation to DC and we were at the offices of the DC law firm, Hogan & Hartson. A group of 32 interns were hearing from various speakers, most of whom were current or former lawyers. The one talk that stands out from the day and still to this day, was by Doug Robinson.
He was explaining how he was a pro-bono lawyer (working for free) to defend clients who were on death row. Now the key thing here is that were incorrectly convicted and sentenced to the death penalty. There was evidence subsequently found to the contrary and to support a re-trial. You could have heard a pin drop as he recounted his story in the conference room. It was so passionate and he was crying as he explained how he not been able to help all of his clients.
He closed his talk by reiterating his mission to chase justice and make a difference in the future for other defendants and after a web search, it looks like he is continuing his crusade.
This may come as a surprise to you, I am not a trained legal expert, but have done jury duty and understand the importance of hearing all of the evidence in a case before making up my mind. They key word there being evidence.
If you want to understand more about the US legal system and the death penalty, British comedian and investigative journalist, John Oliver, covered this well on his TV show.
Netflix also has a popular documentary called “13th”. I haven’t had the chance to watch this yet, but it did rise to prominence again after the murder of George Floyd last year.
This upset me to read this, as the outgoing President’s administration raced through a series of executions. I wonder if Doug was defending any of these? Were any incorrectly convicted by an inherently racist system?
Having been fortunate to attend many international conferences over the years and hear some well known business leaders, Robinson’s talk is certainly in my top 3 of all time.
So seeing that interview with Foxx and Jordan and hearing the premise of the film, I had to catch this. This too is a very powerful and emotive story. The work of Stevenson and other like him is incredible, an inspiration as they fight for justice. He has made this his life’s mission. Institutional and systemic racism, and fake news were evident in the 80’s as sadly they are today in many parts of society, not just in the US.
Last week saw UK professional footballers receive racist messages on their social media accounts, again. Key-board trolls using disgusting methods to intimidate and harass people based solely on the colour of their skin. The social media giants need to do more to police this. They can serve personalised ads and video posts for everyone of us based on their algorithms, but they can’t stop racist terms? Don’t treat us like fools.
Why can’t we just be nice and civil to our fellow human beings? Are levels of racism worse now due to social media than they were maybe 15 years ago before we started to use these new platforms?
So my film tip for you is to watch Just Mercy, just do it.
