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“You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance, Bryan. You have to get close,” she told me all the time.
This quote from Bryan Stevenson’s grandmother appears in the Introduction to Just Mercy. Her words of wisdom impact Stevenson’s time in law school as well as his lifetime of work on behalf of those most affected by an unfair justice system. Stevenson is petrified before his first meeting with a death row inmate, but once he gets close to the man and realizes their similar ages and backgrounds, his desire to help prisoners is born. The quote also explains Stevenson’s purpose for including his clients’ personal stories in the book as it is only by getting close to each individual’s story that we can begin to understand the overall problems with mass incarceration.
The bad things that happen to us don’t define us. It’s just important sometimes that people understand where we’re coming from.
Bryan Stevenson says these words during his second encounter with a prison guard in Chapter Ten after the guard wonders aloud if childhood trauma leaves permanent damage on a person. The quote addresses one of the main principles of the book, that people’s lives should not be minimized to one thing. Traumatized children can grow up to be happy, healthy adults if they receive the support they need rather than punishment. After watching Stevenson’s advocacy first-hand, the guard grows beyond his racist beliefs and can begin to see Jenkins as a human being who deserves compassion, reinforcing the idea that getting closer to someone’s story can change one’s perspective.
Knitted together as they were, a horrible day for one woman would inevitably become a horrible day for everyone.
This quote appears in Chapter Twelve as Stevenson tells the story of his client Marsha Colbey. Stevenson explains that the physical proximity of women at Tutwiler Prison extends to an emotional closeness and shared understanding. Using the phrase “knitted together,” Stevenson describes the complicated entanglement of the prison community, writing of the women’s shared worry about family members outside the prison or depression over lack of visitors. His quote suggests that the dark feelings spread quickly based on their close quarters and shared understanding of similar backgrounds. Stevenson suggests an even more sinister nature of this shared experience as he writes of the widespread sexual abuse by the prison guards. In contrast, he highlights the community’s positive sharing as well, with celebrations of correspondence, a visit, or parole for one woman raising everyone’s spirits.
