Hey, Aloha and welcome to the British Town Daily.

My name is Jairian and I lead the youth communities here at British Town.

For today's daily, I have the privilege and honor of highlighting the spiritual leadership

in life of Brian Stevenson, who to this day is one of my favorite influences from afar

and I'm sure that's the case for many others as well.

And for those of you who haven't yet heard of his story or work, my suggestion would

be to read his best-selling book, Just Mercy, which is by far one of the most powerful,

long-suffering and mercy-filled stories.

Taking place with Brian's life experiences and wisdom firstly as a black man and secondly

as a lawyer advocating for the oppressed in the midst of severe injustice in inequality

right here in America.

His life in book, which by the way also was made into a film in 2019, shed light on

the egregious 1980s era of the American criminal justice system that he elaborates pretty

thoroughly in Just Mercy.

For now, I'll give a terribly brief summary to give you a little bit of context for the

suffering and injustice Brian chose to get close to.

So the tragic formula in a nutshell of the American prism system of the 1980s was this,

extreme punishment for those with minor offenses.

And the tragic consequence of that formula was mass incarceration.

The breakdown of the family unit particularly for the black and brown community, wrongful

death sentences that literally included children and mental health severities that plagued

culture and economics in the states.

...