and he said bryan stevenson. i said who is this bryan stevenson? and he was talking how great this bryan stevenson was. and i said he can't be that great! he already made one fundamental mistake. did you not say that you are from boston? he said yes. and i said had this great bryan stevenson spoke with me before i -- before he sent you here -- this lawyer from boston was interested in one thing. that is getting me a life without parole. anna told this lawyer, life without parole is for guilty people. not innocent people. i'm perfectly willing to die for something you didn't do. we almost die at some point in sometime but i didn't want to die for something i didn't do. but i would never stand up and say i did something when i didn't do it. this lawyer and i had a conflict of interest. and then something told me to ask don to send in his very best. i cannot tell you what year. i cannot say when it was about my letter that i wrote to dad and i asked him for his best. but i do know that he sent me his best. bryan stevenson, ej i. i'm here because this

power structure as i want it to be. >> stevenson: that's exactly right. >> winfrey: in 1993, bryan stevensonnded an organization he called "the equal justice initiative." it's a legal advocacy group, based in montgomery, alabama, focused on defending the poor and powerless. stevenson is best known for his legal victories in the united states supreme court and for successfully overturning the wrongful convictions of over 100 people on death row. but ten years ago, he turned the attention of his organization to also investigating crimes of the past: the lynchings of african americans. defense attorney sia sanneh has spent hundreds of hours searching through newspaper archives and visiting county courthouses. is there usually newspaper evidence or documentation? >> sia sanneh: often, there were public reports, because people acted with impunity. and so there would be newspaper reports, sometimes in advance, saying, "a man will be lynched later this afternoon." this is an article about the lynching of a man named jesse washington, who was accused of a crime in waco, texas. >> winfrey: the newspa

bryan stevenson. [applause] thank you so much. this is a really special night. we've spent many hours at the prison in th and the visitation, difficult, painful sometimes in the joyous at other times imagining a knife just like this so i'm excited to be here with him. he has an amazing story and amazing but we want to share with the world. there are important questions we want you to take about how we got to a place where a story like this and a book like his becomes what we have to learn and deal with. these questions i hope we grapple with that have to do with who we are and how we got here. what happens when there is the kind of racial inequality that we don't talk about it what happens when we are a slave society and you live in a post-genocide society like ours where they are slaughtered by the millions and we don't talk about that genocide what happens when we create a myth, and ideology of white supremacy and when we say black people are different than white people, what happens when we get the united states supreme court to say black people or three fift

we're not free, that were burdened by this history it's created a kind the smog in the air," said bryan stevensoncutive director of the initiative (eji).stevenson is the brains behind the two museums; he says his team have been history of years. a walk through memorial for is almost a first hand view of america was like. "i believe the truth and reconciliation is sequential you first then you get to really reconciliation," explained stevenson stevenson invited descendants of lynching victims to walk through museum. "i felt a lot of frustration. i wanted to talk-i wanted to be quiet," said shirah deedman. there are two montgomery legacy museum which paints a pictures and the center for peace and justice, which of thousands of lynched in america. museums people to say 'never again.'" "when you say 'never again,' i actualize that. (grant) that was reshad hudson reporting... congresswoman terry sewell says she hopes more people from alabama would visit the two museums because it is a large part of their history.... (grant) art is in the eye of the beholder ... but if you're a customer of one seriousl

the museum's creation was overseen by bryan stevenson of the equal justice initiative. he says more than 4400 black people died by lynching throughout u.s. history. he spoke to democracy now! in 2014. >> lynching was horrific and terrifying. and we don't talk about it. we put markers about the confederacy in front of these courthouses, but we don't say word about the thousands of people that were lynched -- hundreds of whom work lynched on courthouse lawns. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. the u.s. supreme court appears poised to uphold president trump's travel ban, which blocks syria, and yemen from entering the united states. during oral arguments on wednesday, justice anthony kennedy, who is often seen as a swing vote, appeared to side with the conservative wing of the court. u.s. solicitor general noel francisco argued the travel restrictions were not a

the museum's creation was overseen by bryan stevenson of the equal justice initiative. he says more than 4400 black people died by lynching throughout u.s. history. he spoke to democracy now! in 2014. >> lynching was h horrific and teterrifying.. and we don't talk about it. we put markers about the confederacy in front of these courthouses, but we don't say word about the thousands of people that were lynched -- hundreds of whom work lynched on courthouse lawns. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. the u.s. supreme court appears poised to uphold president trump's travel ban, which blocks syria, and yemen from entering the united states. during oral arguments on wednesday, justice anthony kennedy, who is often seen as a swing vote, appeared to side with the conservative wing of the court. u.s. solicitor general noel francisco argued the travel restrictions were n

. >> brown: the national memorial for peace and justice, a project led by cil rights attorney bryan stevensonsits on six g res on a grassy hill overlookwntown montgomery, alabama. construction continued during our visit. this is a city resonant with the history of racial strife. the first "white house" of the confederacy, statues and memorials to confederate leaders, the church where martin ther king, jr. preached, the bus stop where rosa mbrks became a of resistance. it's a "equal justice initiative," a mgal advocacy organization, which documente than 4,400 lynchings between 1877950, putting names and stories to stly forgotten victims. >> most of us have no understanding about the legacy of slavery. we have no understanding about the era of lynching. black people were routinely pulled out of their homes, and hanged, and burned, and anowned, mutilated, and tortured, sometimes on the public square with thousands of people cheering on that torture. >> brown: at the memorial, more than 800 rectangular steel monuments, suspended from the ceiling, rising in height, rusted and stained, some as if b

ouffrey brown recently visited and spoke wither bryan stevenson. g/nd his report on our web site, pbs.wshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm john yang. join us online and again here tomorrow evening, when judy will be back. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> knowledge, it's where o novation begins. ti's what leads usscovery and tes us to succeed. it's why we ask the tough questions and what leads us to the answer at leidos, we're standing behind feose working to improve the world's health, , and efficiency. leidos. >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made stssible by the corporation for public broadg. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. sn't north korea already posing an unacceptable threat? >> this regime continues to parfect its long-r