BRIAN STEVENSON

We Need to Talk About Injustice

By: Javonte Lyle

Is a lawyer and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative which fights poverty and racial discrimination in criminal courts.

One of his main jobs is to work as a defense attorney for juveniles who are being charged as adults, and inmates on death row who he feels have been wrongly accused. He stated that 1 in 9 cases of people sentenced to death have been exonerated.

The inequality of the American justice system. Which incarcerates lower class and minority offenders at an unfair proportion compared to upper class and white offenders.

Mr. Stevenson, grabbed the crowds attention by telling the story of his upbringing in the American South which laid the foundation for his morals, beliefs , and values .

Mr. Stevenson used hard numbers and hard facts to give the audience a mental picture so that they could understand the severity of the message he was trying to get across about the inequality that exist in the judicial system.

Mr. Stevenson used a cameo from a famous Civil Rights activist whom he knows personally to keep his presentation interesting and to show the support he has from people who have helped to change the world.

II think most importantly he used self humor and political satire, and story telling to really lock the crowd in. It also kept his presentation from becoming to formal and dry and added a bit of fun to a depressing topic.

I think by him being he lawyer he was able to use his skills and teqniques from the courtroom to move, motivate, and paint a vivid picture of the issues he wanted to address to the audience.

I think if Mr. Stevenson used used graphs and charts to show the demographics of those treated unfairly in the judicial system would have solidified his presentation even more kind of like showing evidence during trial.

I think the best Ted commandment he use was to talk about his own failures and short comings

I think the best tips Mr. Stevenson, used from Garr Reynolds was to keep it simple, use humor and tell a story.

Mr. Stevenson, taught me to keep a steady pace and to have good transitions and fluidity in my delivery . And also to have confidence in myself and my message.

I think Mr. Stevenson’s presentation compared to Sir. Ken Robison was equally good they both used similar techniques such as humor and story telling, but where Sir. Robinson used illustrations Mr. Stevenson used words to paint mental pictures.

The best advice I can give my classmates is to be prepared, stay motivated, and have passion about the subject matter you are presenting. And like the EJI always do and says what is right no matter hard it is.