Answer:
Bryan Stevenson taught Stevenson about the power of identity.
Stevenson's experiences growing up in a racially segregated society shaped the way he saw the world.
"You are not the problem, you are the solution," were the powerful words that Bryan Stevenson said to Stevenson.
The second thing he had to promise was to stay out of trouble.
He refused to play with his brother and sister because they were white and he was black.
"In 1972, there were 300,000 people in jails and prisons. Today, there are 2.3 million. The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. We have 6 million people on probation and parole."
One urban community where 50 to 60 percent of all young men of color are in jail, prison, on probation, or parole is Chicago.
"We have a system of justice in this country that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes."
34% of African American males in Alabama have lost the right to vote. He describes this as a crisis of mass incarceration and a breakdown of democracy.
Stevenson shares that the United States is the only country in the world to sentence children to life imprisonment without parole.
The death penalty in America is defined by race and poverty. Stevenson argues that it is applied disproportionately to people of color and those who cannot afford a good defense, and that it is often used to maintain racial control and reinforce social hierarchies.