I’ve been thinking a lot about all of the people who have spent years or even decades in prison but then are released because their lawyers have been able to show their clients were wrongly convicted and are actually innocent.
So often the underlying convictions have unsettling implications — or explicit proof — of racism contained within them. They often are poor and had little (or bad) help in their initial defense.
And yet, so often, those people come to their story with such grace and humility. And not just when they’re released. Throughout the process. I’m thinking about those people a lot.
Many faced racist systems that set them up to fail, flubbed-at-best criminal trials and convictions, and harsh sentences that they served for years — yet maintain grace. I can’t get them out of my head when I think about Brett Kavanaugh’s performance last Thursday.
