Evanston Township High School will host “American Injustice: Mercy, Humanity, and Making a Difference” with Bryan Stevenson

Evanston Township High School will host “American Injustice: Mercy, Humanity, and Making a Difference” with Bryan Stevenson on Thursday, April 7 at 4:15pm in the school auditorium. Presented in partnership with the Family Action Network (FAN), the event is free and open to the public. CPDUs are available for educators.

An activist attorney, Bryan Stevenson is the author of Just Mercy, which addresses mass incarceration in America and the disconnection most experience with the realities of the criminal justice system. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, he is the Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, AL. He is a law professor at New York University School of Law and has won wide acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color, having won relief for over 100 prisoners on death row. Stevenson is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” the American Bar Association’s Wisdom Award, the Olof Palme Prize, and the ACLU’s National Medal of Liberty, among many others.

Stevenson’s 2012 TED talk, “We need to talk about an injustice,” has been viewed nearly 3 million times and asserts that our response to pervasive injustice must be deep engagement, that a person is always more than their worst act. His recent work at the Equal Justice Initiative bends towards trying to change the conversation about race in the U.S. He terms the era between Reconstruction and World War II an era of “racial terrorism,” and he favors the concept of “transitional justice” with a focus on the process of truth and reconciliation. Layering issues of poverty on issues of race, Stevenson observes that the opposite of poverty isn’t wealth – it’s justice.

The April 7 presentation is sponsored by Family Action Network (FAN), in partnership with Baker Demonstration School, Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, the James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, North Shore Country Day School, Northside College Preparatory High School, Temple Jeremiah, and the Women’s Center at Northwestern University.

ETHS is located at 1600 Dodge Ave., Evanston, 60201. The auditorium is wheelchair accessible. Guests should plan to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to 4:15pm to find parking and seats. Parking is recommended in the lot across from the main entrance, off of Dodge Avenue, or in the lots behind the high school. Parking is also available along Dodge Avenue according to posted City of Evanston signs.

For more information about FAN events and sponsors for the 2015-16 presentations, visit www.familyactionnetwork.net.