A Tale of Two Americas
"The rich are different from you and me." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
I read two books in one weekend: "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson on Saturday, "Strangers" by Belle Burden on Sunday. They're true stories, told well, about two countries, both inside America's borders: Death Row in Alabama, Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Defense attorney Stevenson's soul is tied up with saving death-row clients from the ultimate punishment. He exposes false testimony in one case -- after his client and friend Walter spent six years in prison based on it.
Alabama justice is just what you hear and fear. Stevenson's lifework is to make hundreds of legal motions to try to halt the lethal killing machine. Just last week, a Tennessee woman survived two attempts of state lethal injection, and a Texas man may soon be killed by firing squad.
Jimmy Dill's fate was execution. On the phone before he died, he said, "Mr. Bryan, I just want to thank you for fighting for me. I thank you for caring about me. I love y'all for trying to save me." And then the end, while Stevenson shed tears.
Stevenson emphasizes that his clients suffered abuse, physical and sexual, as children at home or in foster care. He explains how cruel it is to sentence children to life without parole. Mass incarceration, a trend that started 20 or 30 years ago, is an unseen plague. But it goes hand-in-hand with locking up the mentally ill instead of providing psychiatric treatment.
One poignant moment occurs when an inmate, Avery, asks Stevenson if he brought him a chocolate milkshake during a visit. No, he'd try next time, Stevenson said. The rough prison guard surprised them by bringing Avery a chocolate milkshake after hearing his bleak life story in court.
Stevenson also tells us Marsha Colbey, a woman who gave birth to a stillborn son, "found herself arrested and charged with capital murder."
These modern Dickensien lives are haunting. A juvenile facing life without parole, allowed in many states, might never see the light of day. Children do not make rational life decisions.
Stevenson's view is that nobody should be judged on the worst thing they've done -- and that mercy is not always earned or deserved. Mercy is a way toward light and hope.
"Walter made me understand why we have to reform a system of criminal justice that continues to treat people better if they are rich and guilty than if they are poor and innocent," Stevenson stated at his funeral service.
On to the ultra-rich. Burden's bestselling book tells of her husband abruptly leaving her after 21 years of marriage and three kids. Then he drives away from their summer home on the Vineyard, where they are sheltering during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A lavish picture of privilege, Belle was destroyed -- "falling apart," she said.
They met as corporate lawyers in New York. They both grew up on the Upper East Side and went to boarding schools. Their wedding was on her family farmhouse of eight acres, with an apple orchard, rose garden, tennis court and pool, Burden writes.
Nice.
Burden quits her job to become a devoted "stay-at-home mom," a rearguard action among my generation of well-educated women. When "James" returns to hunt for their prenuptial agreement, he tells her to make him a sandwich! And she does, to prove how good she is at making sandwiches.
Burden's mother, Amanda Burden, is a super-accomplished city planner for New York first, and all over the world.
Belle is descended from the Vanderbilt family and heiress to a fortune. But she feared social and financial repercussions. Would she be cast out of the tennis club and private beach?
"I put on my summer dresses. I went to cocktail parties. ... I bought hostess gifts ... alone among married couples, wanting to die."
The part that made me laugh was the huge dog (100 pounds) on Prozac.
The New Yorker magazine found the apartment cost $4 million, and the Vineyard house was worth even more. Belle had assets and trusts that totaled $63 million.
Bryan Stevenson and Belle Burden: A tale of night and day, black and white, rich and poor colors of heartbreak.
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The author may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.
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