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Thursday, May 14, 2020

Just Mercy (2019)

I chose this as the movie to watch for Mother's Day.  I think the thing that I hope for as a parent is to raise children who are good.  The more we know about injustice the better we are able to articulate why it is wrong, why we fight against it, and that knowledge is power.
This is the story of Bryan Stevenson, who started the Equal Justice Initiative and ultimately the museum and memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.  The powerful thing that happened to me there that was part of the living aspect of the experience is that there were bus loads of African American family reunions coming to see these two sites, as well as the church where Martin Luther King preached.  The museum demonstrates that prison is the new slavery, and it isn't about justice for people of color in the American South.
So I was happy to see this movie, with some heavy hitting stars playing the key figures in the story.  It is emotionally powerful, as you would expect a movie about people unjustly incarcerated on death row to be, but ultimately a step in the right direction.  As we watch angry white men armed with assault weapons storm state capitals around the country, it is very clear that they are the terrorists that we need to fear. 

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