Bryan Stevenson
Lawyer and activist, 1959–present
Bryan Stevenson, founder of Equal Justice Initiative, was a recent guest on Kate Bowler’s podcast, Everything Happens. During this interview, Stevenson shares a story about a woman named Mrs. Williams, who had been selected by her community to sit in the court during the Walter McMillan trial in Monroeville, Alabama. This was the case prominently featured in Just Mercy.
“Everybody stood up when the judge walked in. And then everybody sat back down. And, I noticed that people were staring. And, I turned around and Mrs. Williams was still standing and the courtroom got really quiet, and they were looking at her. And that’s when she said one last time she said, ‘I’m here.’ And it became clear to me then she wasn’t just saying I’m physically present, but she was saying is, I may be old, I may be poor, I may be black, but I’ve got this vision of justice that compels me to stand up to injustice.
And, I really have come to believe that sometimes the two most important words we can articulate when we’re trying to minister, when we’re trying to help, when we’re trying to serve, when we’re trying to be a friend, when we’re trying to do something hard and difficult. The two most challenging, but sometimes the most important words are: I’m here. And it is that expression of presence in places that are difficult and challenging that represent something so much more powerful than a lot of the other words that we can say. You don’t always have the answers. You don’t always have the skills. You don’t always have the knowledge that you’d like to have. But if you have the willingness to be present, it’s amazing what you can do.”
