WASHINGTON – Howard University will join the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) on Friday, Feb. 28 for a condensed screening of the HBO documentary True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality beginning at 7 p.m. in the Howard University Law School’s Dunbarton Chapel located at 2900 Van Ness St. NW. The documentary follows the life and career of public interest attorney Bryan Stevenson. A panel discussion moderated by Squire Patton Boggs law firm partner J.R. Clark will follow the abbreviated film screening.

For more than three decades, Stevenson has advocated on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned. A committed advocate and legal expert, Stevenson is the founder and executive director of EJI, a human rights organization that provides legal representation for people impacted by the criminal justice system, among a variety of other anti-poverty and anti-discrimination efforts.  

According to HBO: 

Told primarily in his own words, True Justice shares Bryan Stevenson’s experience with a criminal justice system that, he asserts, “treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.” The burden of facing this system is explored in candid interviews with associates, close family members and clients. 

This feature documentary focuses on Stevenson’s life and career – particularly his indictment of the U.S. criminal justice system for its role in codifying modern systemic racism – and tracks the intertwined histories of slavery, lynching, segregation and mass incarceration. Highlighting watershed moments involving cases and clients, True Justice offers a rare glimpse into the human struggle that is required when the poor and people of color are wrongly condemned or unfairly sentenced, and explores the personal toll it has taken on Stevenson and his colleagues. 

The film screening is free and open to the public. To RSVP, please visit https://truejusticescreening.eventbrite.com.

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About Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced one Schwarzman Scholar, three Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 11 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows and more than 70 Fulbright Scholars. Howard also produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu.

Media Contact: Misha Cornelius, misha.cornelius@howard.edu