Rodriguez 1

Carmen Rodriguez

LEAD CTW 1

Professor Tarnoff

7 Nov. 2019

Lens Analysis Essay

Our perceptions of the world around us help influence our thoughts and actions in

response to it. But what happens when our perceptions are based off stereotypes, and inherent or

learned ideas and beliefs? Two texts call attention to this problem: ​Just Mercy​, by Bryan

Stevenson, and ​Documented​ (2013), written and directed by Jose Antonio Vargas. While

Stevenson focuses on the unjust treatment of his death row clients (particularly consisting of

minorities/peoples with a history of oppression) in the criminal justice system, Vargas focuses on

how current perceptions of undocumented immigrants block any reform on immigration policies

in the United States. Taken together, both authors illuminate how racism and discrimmination

exist within the branches of government, and how these prevailing ideas and attitudes negatively

impact the lives of the oppressed in a legal setting.

Stevenson wishes to educate his readers about the injustice and the dehumanization that

occurs in the criminal justice system, that thus lead to consequences which affect incarcerations

and inmates who are placed on death row. Steven illustrates this point through his telling of the

story of Herbert Richardson in the chapter, “The Old Rugged Cross.” Here, we are given the life

of Richardson: a Vietnam War veteran, suffering from severe PTSD (not only from the war but

from his childhood), and whose newfound love had turned into an obsession. In his efforts to

attract his love, Richardson unintentionally kills a young girl. Re-examining his trial, Stevenson
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recalls how “the appointed defense lawyer presented no evidence about Herbert’s background,

his military service, his trauma from the war, his relationship with the victim, his obsession with

the girlfriend—nothing” (Stevenson 72). Due to the racial bias and inadequate defense during his

trial, crucial information regarding Richardson’s life was withheld and not taken into

consideration, leading to a death penalty sentence (something even Stevenson couldn’t reverse).

With that racial bias in their mindsets, the courts were able to take advantage of his vulnerable

state and reduce Richardson to nothing more than an “evil” man who had to be put down for his

crimes. What’s also important to note is the role that class discrimmination played in

Richardson’s trial. Because of his poor status in his community, Richardson was unable to hire a

new lawyer after witnessing the blatant incompetence of his current one, placing him at a

disadvantage that later influenced the result of his trial (something that also wasn’t taken into

consideration during Stevenson’s re-trial of the case). By illuminating this aspect of the trial,

Stevenson highlights the discrepancy between poor inmates and richer ones, revealing another

form of discrimmination that the judicial system favors.

Stevenson critiques this system on its obvious factors of racial and class discrimmination

and bias, specifically targeting the judicial system of government and how those people in power

use their unethical mindsets to influence cases and cruelly punish the incarcerated. Richardson’s

case wasn’t an anomaly, but just one example of how disadvantaged minorities are when it

comes to the justice system. Stevenson writes, “[Walter’s case] made me understand why we

have to reform a system of criminal justice that continues to treat people better if they are rich

and guilty than if they are poor and innocent. A system that denies the poor the legal help they

need, that makes wealth and status more important than culpability, must be changed” (313).
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Here, Stevenson refers to how, in Walter McMillian’s case, the judge, jury, police, and

prosecutors relied on racial and class dicscrimmination to wrongfully incarcerate and sentence an

innocent man (McMillian) to the death penalty. By referring to these cases, Stevenson reaffirms

how people in power, those who are supposed to facilitate fairness and justice, are letting their

prejudices rule on cases rather than present, undeniable facts, and that they will continue to

discriminate and wrongfully sentence people of color who are poor, disbaled, abused, etc. until

they are called out on it and/or forced to re-examine cases by people like Stevenson.

Vargas chooses to focus his movie on immigration policy in the United States and how

immigrants and their families (documented or not), are negatively affected. Deciding to use his

personal life as an example of an “undocumented American”, Vargas seeks to expose the truth

about the lives of “undocumented Americans” in hopes of rebuting the racial sterotypes

surrounding them. Around the country he goes, sharing his story and attempting to make the

country see him (and other undocumented immigrants) as a person—a human being—something

more than his status. He travels to colleges, makes speeches, attends rallies and organizations,

desperately trying to reveal the true lives of immigrants: not rapists or thieves, job-stealers, or

resource-consumers, but desperate people who want to leave their country in hope for a better

life. This false viewpoint, Vargas argues, only subjects the American public to fear and violence

against these immigrants and creates a vicious cycle of racial profiling, stigmatization, racism,

and discrimination against these immigrants. With only a single viewpoint regarding these

people, Vargas argues it influences lawmakers to create policy that obstructs any real chance of

undocumented immigrants getting their citizneship and, in most cases, being detained and sent

back to their orginal country.

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Both of these authors reveal how factors like race and class can determine the level of

treatment in this country; while Stevenson chooses to discuss victims in incarceation, Vargas

focuses on undocumented immigrants. Stevenson’s focus on how people in power, using their

racist, discriminatory beliefs to influence their decisions and actions, further proves Vargas’s

experiences as an undocumented immigrant, filling in gaps and correctly naming the source and

the logic behind his interactions with immigration policy. On the other hand, Vargas’s

experiences also support Stevenson’s text because it further emphasizes the impact class has on

minorities. Although Vargas is, by no means, a rich person, he does have certain priviliges

availible to him that other undocumented immigrants don’t have, due to his high status as a

(former) reporter for the Washington Post. In the film, Vargas decides to use his privilige to his

advantage, taking risks and making decisions that normally, most undocumented immigrants

wouldn’t make (e.g. calling I.C.E. and bluntly asking them about his status, continuing to travel

across the country and interview people, give talks about his life as an undocumented immigrant,

etc.). However, Vargas is never detained for his actions, something that (more likely than not)

would’ve happened to other undocumented immigrants who don’t have the same socioeconmic

standing as Vargas. Thus proving how the different classes of people, in the face of the

government, will receive different treatments based on both race ​and​ class.

However, Stevenson’s text and Vargas’s movie both highlight an important strategy in

attempting to change the public's perceptions: storytelling. By utilizing this strategy, both authors

are able to humanize victims in a society that reduces them to nothing more than a problem that

needs to be eradicated. In Stevenson’s text, he claims that “We are all broken”, and that by

sharing our stories we are able to look beyond our worst faults and establish connections that
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help us relate us to one another (289). In Vargas’s movie, he attributes our lost connection

between citizens and undcoumented immigrants due to the ​lack​ of connections, that we need to

hear more stories and experiences about undocumented immigrants and their families. These

clear connections between the two texts touch upon the reasons for the continued discrimination

minorities face regarding legal institutions.

Both the texts, as well, reveal ideas that strengthen the main arguments in each text

individually. Stevenson’s text illuminates how, when given context and background information,

people’s viewpoints can change and reform can come. Towards the end of his book Stevenson

argues for a hearing of Avery Jenkins, a mentally ill man who wrongfully sentenced to life in

prison, rather than a mental institution. By sharing Jenkin’s story in court and using it to examine

why the man made the choices he did, it essentially converted an extremely conservative, racist

correctional officer’s perspective of the incarcerated, and caused him to view the broken man in

a more humane aspect; thus proving what Vargas tries to achieve: that through the use of

storytelling more humane discussions can be proposed. Vargas’s movie, however, also helps

strengthens Stevenson’s text as well, by illuminating the danger of a “single story.” All

throughout his movie Vargas attempts to change how the public sees undocumented immigrants,

because the current viewpoint is quite frankly ​wrong​. For example, his struggle in trying to

change the connotation of “illegal alien” to “undocumented American.” Similar to Stevenson,

Vargas attempts to change this way of thinking in order to make these people be seen as ​people,​

because he sees the danger of only seeing them as one thing.

Our perceptions of the world around us influence our reactions to it. Perceptions based on

racist and discriminatory beliefs, however, can serve to oppress minorities within a legal setting
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should those in power be persuaded to side with their unjust, unethical beliefs, which Stevenson

argues. Congruently, Vargas argues that negative perceptions can block any chance of having

change in a society. Both texts illuminate how perceptions of race and class can influence

minorities’ treatment in the United States, and share similar strategies of how to deal with this

current problem.
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Works Cited

Stevenson, Bryan. ​Just Mercy​. Spiegel & Grau, 2014

Vargas, Jose Antonio. “Documented.” ​Alexander Street​, 27 Oct. 2019,

https://search-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.scu.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_

work%7C3190173​.