Just Mercy

A Reaction Paper
By Jessica Mae O. Nubla

This reaction paper discusses my takeaways from the movie “Just Mercy”, a
biographical film about Walter McMillian, a death row inmate who was wrongfully
convicted for the murder of a woman.

The Fight against Discrimination

As a young African-American lawyer, Bryan Stevenson already had dreams of
helping people achieve justice. He started the Equal Justice Initiative, where they provided
free legal assistance to people on death row, because he believed that not everyone in there
were really guilty. People who had been living unaffected by the negative effects of the
current state of the justice system were not in favor of this advocacy. Racial bias by the
police in the conduct of their investigations was still unapologetically rampant during this
time, to the point that even Stevenson was strip-searched before he was able to visit the
prisoners on death row, even though he was a lawyer. This could even be seen just by the
scenes showing felons, in which 4 out of 5 were African-American.

Stevenson met McMillian and grew interested in his case. The state based their
entire case on the questionable testimony of Mike Myers, a convicted felon who testified to
be given a lesser sentence on his own crime. No hard evidence, just the testimony of
someone who had something to gain. Stevenson wanted to file a motion for new trial. He
knew this wasn’t normally enough to convict someone beyond a reasonable doubt, and
believed that racial discrimination played a part in both the investigation and the
conviction. This became a clearer image of racial discrimination as Stevenson delved
deeper into the facts of the case by interviewing people who were involved.

As the story progresses, the movie tells us that Stevenson was also a victim of the
system. Even Stevenson’s assistant, who was a white woman, received threats for doing
what she could to help him with his case. Stevenson did everything in his power to

The whole time I was watching this movie, I could only feel anger due to the
injustice of it all. One of the things I hate most that has ever existed in this world is racial
discrimination. I’m glad that the Black Lives Matter movement has reached this far,
however, racial discrimination still exists up to this day. I know it’s not an issue here in the
Philippines as much as it is in America, but discrimination based on race, gender or status
are all abhorrent and should be eliminated from all laws. It’s still a long and arduous fight
against discrimination, but we have come far from where we all began. Stevenson became
part of history fighting this fight. I want to do my part to fight for women’s rights in
Philippine Laws, and I’ve taken a step by making a thesis about the gender discrimination
in our criminal law, particularly the disparity between Adultery and Concubinage. I
sincerely hope I can do more after I pass the Bar Exam.