Bryan Stevenson

I think that's so true, Mel.

And I do think one of the

failures we have tolerated is our unwillingness to remember, to confront honestly this history.

There are people in other parts of the country who were 15 years younger than me who didn't experience integration in education until the 1970s, late 1970s, because there was so much resistance to this.

And the thing that even in my county, which was 80% white and 20% black, if you had a vote

on whether to let Bryan Stevenson into the public schools, we would have lost the vote.

because the majority of people didn't want that integration.

It took a commitment to the rule of law that these lawyers enforced for those school doors to open, which is why I ultimately became a lawyer, because there was a power in using the rule of law to help disfavored people, to help marginalized people, to help people who people wanted to exclude.

And when I finished law school in the 80s, this population of people being sent to jails and prisons,

And most specifically, the people who were being condemned to death facing execution were the people who I felt were most in need of the rule of law.

And justice.

And for me, stone-catching is like embracing people who are struggling, who are falling down, who are not sure they can do it.

And it's the gift we all get.

I mean, one of the things I'm persuaded is that no matter what your education level, no matter where you live, no matter how old you are,

no matter what you think about this or that, we all have the capacity to get close to someone who's fallen down, who's suffering, who's struggling, who's overwhelmed, and wrap our arms around them and affirm their humanity and their dignity.

For me, that's what stone-catching is all about.

It's about affirming the humanity and the dignity of the people whose humanity and dignity is being questioned, who have become hopeless and despairing about their humanity and dignity.

And as the recipient of that kind of stone catching and that kind of affirmation, I don't feel any choice but to participate in sharing that with the people I encounter.

It means that if someone tells a lie, they're not just a liar.

If someone takes something that doesn't belong to them, they're not just a thief.