This movie is so important
for everyone to see. And it has done so well. And it's a true story. Tell everybody what it's about. It's about the life
story of Bryan Stevenson. He wrote this book, Just
Mercy, a few years ago. It pretty much is
his biopic, you know. He's a defense attorney,
moved down to Alabama. Started the EJI, the
Equal Justice Initiative. And the movie kind
of takes place from him fresh
out of law school, taking on this case
of Walter McMillian, who was wrongly convicted of
murder about 32 years ago. And I play his defense attorney
that gets him off of death row. Walter McMillian is
played by Jamie Foxx, an incredible
performance by him. Yeah. And it's his life's work to take
on the criminal justice system. He's made it his life's work. He's dedicated his entire
life to fighting this cause. And it's so timely, you know. It takes place 30 years ago, but
he could have been yesterday. Yeah. That's what's sad about it. And that's what made me really
want to get behind this project and put it on the biggest
platform possible, to get as many people
to see this thing. Because it's a human
thing at this point. You know, it's the
humanity element of it all. The kind of the reputation
and the stigma that's been put on black and
brown people in this world, especially in this
country, is unfair. And you know, they say slavery
ended, but it just evolved. It just evolved over time. And we have to
change the narrative. Yeah. I mean, I loved the movie. But I urge people
to watch this movie. I mean, it is a must see. All right, we're going
to meet the man that you play in the movie after this. He's incredible. We'll be right back. We're back with
Michael B. Jordan. And joining us is the man that
Michael plays in Just Mercy. This is lawyer Bryan
Stevenson, everybody. [CHEERING] So we were talking about you
before you came out here. You have been
working for 30 years to try to get
people out of prison that are wrongly accused. You have helped over 140 people. I just have to read
this, first of all. I'm sure you never
thought a movie was going to be made about your
life, or that Michael B. Jordan would be playing you. We'll get to that in a
second, because that's got to be wonderful to
hear that he's playing you. In the '70s, there were
300,000 people in jail. Now, there are 2.2
million in jail. One in three black babies
will end up in jail. Black defendants
are 11 times more likely to get the death
penalty than white ones. It's infuriating. It is. And that's what drew
me into this work. I mean, I feel like
we're in a crisis. We have the highest rate of
incarceration in the world. 6 million people on
probation and parole. There's 70 million
Americans that have criminal arrests, which
means that they're often disfavored when they try to
get jobs or try to get loans. 132 million people
in this country have family members in
our jails and prisons. And it would be one thing
if it was necessary. But we put people in jails
and prisons for silly things. I'm representing people who
are serving life sentences for writing a bad check of
$50, or simple possession of marijuana-- life
without parole. So we have this
over incarceration and this excessive
punishment problem. And that's what drew
me into this work. And it's one of
the reasons why I feel like it's so urgent
that people learn and know more about what's happening. Absolutely. You talk about people of color
being presumed dangerous. And this story is crazy. Yeah. It's happened to me. I went into a courtroom,
just a couple of years ago. I'd just argued a case
at the US Supreme Court. And I was there in this
courtroom in the Midwest to do a hearing. And when I walked in, I
had my suit and tie on. I was sitting at the
defense counsel's table. And the judge walked in. And when he saw me, he
started screaming at me. He said, hey, hey, hey. You get back out
there in the hallway. I don't want any defendant
sitting in my courtroom without their lawyer. And I had to explain to
him, I said, no, no, judge. I am the lawyer. My name is Bryan Stevenson. And he started laughing, and
the prosecutor started laughing. And I made myself
laugh because I didn't want to disadvantage my client. The client came in. We did the hearing. But after it, I
was thinking, what is it when this judge saw a
middle-aged black man in a suit and tie, it didn't even occur
to him, that's a lawyer. And that kind of
thinking is what's behind all of the
frustration when police shoot unarmed black and brown people. It's behind the frustration
that so many people have when their loved ones are
carted off to prison for things they didn't do. And that's part of
what we're trying to get at through this story. Well, you know, number one,
that he even said that to you. But then he laughs afterwards
instead of being embarrassed and saying, oh my God. I'm so sorry. And it's incredible. Well, you know, we haven't
done in this country what other countries
have done, which is to try to engage in a reckoning
in a truth and reconciliation process. In South Africa, outside of
their Constitutional Court, there are symbols
and emblems designed to make sure that no one forgets
the injustice of apartheid. But in this country, we
haven't talked about slavery. We haven't talked about
the native genocide. We don't talk about lynching. We haven't created the kind
of memorialization symbols that are designed to make sure
we are truthful and honest about this history. You start talking about
race, and people get nervous. And that has to change. And that's why I'm hoping that
we will have an era of truth and justice in this country. And we shouldn't fear
it, because I just think there's something better
waiting for us in America. I do. [APPLAUSE] Yeah, we have to address it. Before we go to break,
I have to ask you, when you found out Michael
B. Jordan was playing you, what was that day? It was pretty exciting. First of all, he is so
talented and he is so gifted. But he is also deeply
committed to these issues. And when I met him, that gave me
so much confidence about this. And I had to tell
everybody, now, Michael B. Jordan is playing me. But it's the young me. So don't think I'm that vain. And he was so committed
to doing things right. He worked super hard. There's a choreography
to being in the court. He got all of that down. He was really
focused, and he wanted to do everything authentic. And I said, that's
so great, Michael. I appreciate that. The one area where we
don't have to be authentic, you can keep the Black Panther
Creed body when play me. I don't need you to
go on a lawyer diet. [LAUGHTER] And it's been a great honor
to see him on the screen. He does an amazing job. But an even bigger
honor to get to know him and appreciate his extraordinary
talent and his beautiful heart. Yeah, he is. He has a beautiful heart. Yes, he does. All right. Well, I want to thank you for
all the work you do, obviously. And I know the organization
you founded is called the Equal Justice Initiative. It's run strictly on donations. And our friends
at Green Dot Bank want to help support
your organization. They're going to donate $50,000. Wow. [CHEERING] Nice. Thank you. Wow. Thank you. Just Mercy is in theaters
everywhere Friday. We'll be right back.
