In Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, he writes about growing up around racial and economic inequality and how it shaped him in his career as a legal advocate. Stevenson argues that achieving a more just society that encourages an ethic of mercy can push people to become more empathetic towards each other. He meets many people on death row who have been wrongly convicted and/or harshly sentenced. Discrimination and racial injustice grow when individuals are portrayed as someone who does not belong in society, in this case the convicted, creating a gap between criminals and the rest. To connect these two, Stevenson emphasizes the importance of paying attention to and understanding the personal stories of prisoners. He believes that by deeply understanding people's lives and experiences you can create mutual empathy, causing you to show mercy towards punishment while representing every death row inmate. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Ever since Stevenson was young, his grandmother had influenced his views on life because of the important role she played while growing up. When he was younger, his grandmother was very protective of him, meaning she didn't want any emotional or physical harm to befall him. Stevenson's grandmother always told him, “You can't understand most important things from afar, Bryan. You have to get closer,” meaning that to understand certain issues he would have to dig deeper into each situation to understand the full concept. He could have meant it politically or even just in their daily lives as there was a lot of racial discrimination during that time. This was part of his life later when he became a lawyer. Becoming an attorney for death row inmates and starting a project known as the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan incorporated his grandmother's thoughts to fully understand the entire history of the cases. For Stevenson, empathy came naturally through his grandmother. He wanted to see a world where there was an equal chance for everyone to have fair representation in the legal system rather than having a racial bias in every case; this later pushes him to deepen his learning. Before representing death row inmates, Stevenson was unsure of his legal career; However; this changes when he starts to get more involved. When he meets his first death row inmates, he begins to recognize his passion in fighting for justice against the death penalty. His grandmother's teachings come into play and he realizes that not all death row inmates are "criminals" as society describes them, but each individual has their own story to tell but it is only poorly represented. He says: "Finally, I have come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged and the respected among us is how we treat the poor, the underprivileged, the accused, the incarcerated and the condemned.” it shows in the way someone treats those who are most in difficulty. He repeats “commitment” to underline the passion he carries forward in his legal career. The awareness he has gained from knowing those sentenced to death has changed his entire vision of his career and her grandmother's teachings became more importantwhat he could do to change these racial disadvantages in his society and prepared himself for the life-changing stories he would soon learn in the future. Stevenson forms a friendship with the inmates to further his knowledge in their cases. During the first small meeting Stevenson had with Henry, one of the first inmates he met, the two immediately became close to each other. By sharing stories they were able to have a normal, nonjudgmental conversation that was superior to what a typical lawyer of those times would have had with a death row inmate. He says: “I was amazed that he was so happy. I relaxed too and we started talking. It turned out we were exactly the same age... Within an hour we were both lost in conversation... We talked about everything... we talked about what's important in life and what's not... we laughed sometimes." Stevenson arrives at his first inmate date as a nervous intern and didn't know what to expect, but through their conversation he discovers that they are the same age and this makes them relate. He couldn't imagine that someone his own age would be on death row. He mentions how both he and Henry are "relaxed", implying that they were both becoming comfortable with each other, which leads to less tension. Then he continues to say “we” to show that they are similar people. To empathize with Henry, avoid creating a barrier by using words like “we.” This also ensures that even if they come from different backgrounds, they can still carry on a full conversation while still relating to each other. One way Stevenson showed empathy is by taking into consideration the emotions of others. Herbert Richardson, a death row inmate, contacted Stevenson when he found out that his execution was scheduled. Stevenson begins to worry and says: “I was still working on the best way to talk to the condemned about how to respond to the news of an execution date. I wanted to say something reassuring like, “Don't worry,” but obviously that would have been a remarkable request to make of anyone: the news of a scheduled execution was absolutely unimaginably troubling. Even 'sorry' didn't seem quite right, but it tended to be the best thing I could think of” (72). Even just planning what to say next or worrying about whether it's the right thing to say to someone going through this shows how understanding he is. When he says "unimaginably troubling", he acknowledges that whatever Richardson has experienced may be completely different from his background, but Stevenson is still able to show sympathy towards him. The fact that he wanted them to feel reassured was something that had not been seen with other lawyers at that time. This makes Stevenson himself stand out as a lawyer. After meeting Walter McMillian, Stevenson was able to be more than just a lawyer, but he was also a friend to him. McMillian was a successful black businessman from a poor community who lost his reputation after being convicted of murder. As he went over the case with Stevenson, Walter's emotions were all over the place. At times he was very depressed and hopeless at never seeing his family again, but with Stevenson it was different. He says: "Walter's sense of humor did not disappoint him despite his six years on death row... We often talked about situations and people related to the case that, despite all the damage they had caused, still made us laugh because their absurdity. The laughter today seemed very different. It was the laughter of liberation.” The relationship Stevenson created with Walter was due to the empathy and care he showed towards her..