Bryan Stevenson
speaker
1,245 appearances
5 recordings
3 series
first heard Jun 2025
last heard 3 Jul
Bryan Stevenson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
You know, it comes from the people I got to represent. You're absolutely right. You know, for the six years we were working on this case... Six years? Six years.
And I would get death threats when I go into the community. We had bomb threats. We had to clear our office on multiple occasions because somebody had... made bomb threats. I started using different names. If I tried to stay in a hotel, we used rental cars because I was constantly being followed. There was so much resistance.
And then the ultimate insult in many ways was after having a good day in court, as you described, coming back the next day and then simply not letting people into the courtroom. And I went over to the door and said, I want to go inside because the community leader said, oh, they won't let us in. I said, what do you mean? And I went over and I said, I want to go inside.
And the deputy there says, oh, you can't come in. I said, well, I'm the defense attorney. I think I have to be able to come in. He said, well, let me go check. And he came back. He said, well, you can come in. And I go in there and I see they've changed things around. They've put a metal detector inside the courtroom door. It already cleared one to get into the courthouse.
And then on the other side of the metal detector, there was this huge German shepherd dog just kind of leering. And I look into the courtroom. It's been filled with people who are not sympathetic to Mr. McMillan. I complained to the judge. The judge said, oh, your people have to get here earlier tomorrow. I said, judge, that wasn't the problem. They didn't let them in.
Judge paid no attention, explained to the community what had happened. They said, we will be here earlier tomorrow. There were a few seats left, and they identified this older woman as And my relationship to this work is because of people like this older woman. She was so proud to be given the responsibility of being one of the witnesses for the community. And she fixed herself up.
She walked over to the door. They let people in. And she walked through the door with such grace and such dignity. She held her head up high. She had this hat on. She walked through the metal detector. But when she saw the dog... You could just see the fear paralyze her. She stopped dead in her tracks, and I watched her try to move, try to take a step, and she couldn't do it.
And her body began to shake, and her head drooped, and I saw tears start running down her face. And then I heard her groan really loudly, and then watched her turn around and run out the courtroom. Painful thing to see. Other people came inside. We had a really good day in court that day. I was heading home, and she was still sitting outside. And when she saw me, she came over to me.
She said, oh, Mr. Stevenson, I feel so bad. She said, I let you down today. I let everybody down today. I said, Ms. Williams, it's not your fault. They shouldn't have done what they did. She said, no, no, no, no, no. I was supposed to be in that courtroom. I should have been in that courtroom. And she started crying. I said, Ms. Williams, please don't feel bad.
They shouldn't have done what they did. She said, no, no, no. I was meant to be in that courtroom. I should have been in that courtroom. She said, but when I saw that dog, all I could think about was Selma, Alabama, 1965. And I remember how they put those dogs on us. And I tried to make myself move, but I just couldn't do it. Her sister told me that night when they got home. that Ms.
Williams didn't sleep, but they could hear her praying all night long. And she was praying, Lord, I can't be scared of no dog. I can't be scared of no dog. And her sister told me the next morning that when they woke up, she called the community leaders and begged for another chance to be a representative.
And on the trip from the house to the courthouse, her sister said she kept saying, I ain't scared of no dog. I ain't scared of no dog. And they had the same setup on the next day. And I was inside the courtroom. And they opened the door. And there was Ms. Williams. And you could hear her saying audibly over and over again. She was saying, I ain't scared of no dog. I ain't scared of no dog.
And she walked through the metal detector. And she walked up to the dog. And she said, I ain't scared of no dog. And she walked past the dog, sat down on the front row of that courtroom, and turned to me and said, Mr. Stevenson, I'm here. And I looked at her and said, oh, Ms. Williams, it's so good to see you here. And then she said, oh, no, Mr. Stevens, and you didn't hear me.
She said, I'm here. And I said, oh, Ms. Williams, I did hear you, and I'm glad to see you here. And the courtroom got filled. The judge walked in to start the hearing. Everybody stood up. But when everybody sat back down, Ms. Williams remained standing. And people were staring at her. And then she said in one loud voice this last time to the whole courtroom, she said, I'm here.
And it became clear to me then what she was saying. She wasn't saying I'm physically present. She was saying 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 have the great beauty, the great joy of witnessing that kind of courage, that kind of strength.
When we ultimately won Mr. McMillan's release, there was a whole crowd of people there. And the first person he went to was Ms. Williams. He said, Ms. Williams, I'm here because you were there for me. She said, I'll always be there for you. And so I feel like I can't be turned around by threats and violence, by people who are angry and hateful.
Because however vulnerable I am, I'm less vulnerable than a lot of people who have to deal with the reality of these problems in these communities. I want to be like the people I meet. I want to be like Ms. Williams. I want to be somebody who, when there's inequality and injustice, when there's suffering and oppression, has the courage to say, I'm here.
And to me, that's the most extraordinary thing we can sometimes do. It's to position ourselves in places where people are struggling, where people are falling down, where people have lost hope, where people are worried that they can't make it. Those two words are really powerful. And just say, I'm here. You don't even have to have answers after that.
I think just being present, that witness for a lot of people can be transformative.
Thank you.
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