Balancing the black and white of social justice

Jessica Eaton State of the Arts

"Work of the eyes is done, now go and do heart-work."

-Rainer Maria Wilke

I went to see the movie "Dead Man Walking" when I was a senior in high school, on a first date with a guy from a neighboring school. I didn't know anything about the movie when I chose to see it, but I admired Tim Robbins, who directed the film, and heard that it received good reviews. It seemed like a movie that would give me a topic of conversation with someone I didn't know very well.

I guess the death penalty isn't really a good first-date topic. I have to give my date credit - he said the film was "very intense" and attempted to sound intellectual and appreciate the symbolism - but he didn't really understand the point of the movie. The government can execute criminals? Some criminals don't get complete legal defense? Wow, that's too bad. So, do you want to go get coffee?

I, on the other hand, quickly became obsessed with the way the sensitive, controversial topic was presented in the movie. I can honestly say that it was the first time a film changed my life.

The phrase, "dead man walking," is the guards' warning of a condemned prisoner on the tier being moved to the site of his execution. In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean (portrayed by Susan Sarandon) became a pen pal to Louisiana death-row inmate Elmo Patrick Sonnier (in the film, Sean Penn plays a fictional inmate with traits of both Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie, another death-row inmate also advised by Prejean.) Sonnier and his brother, Eddie, were convicted of brutally murdering a high school couple and raping the girl. As the older brother, Patrick Sonnier was held more responsible by the courts and received capital punishment, while Eddie was sentenced to life in prison.

Prejean befriended Sonnier, and while officially acting in the position of his "spiritual adviser," tried to help obtain legal aid for him and learned about the limited rights of prisoners, especially those unable to afford adequate legal counsel. (Nearly all of the prisoners on death row are indigent, cited Prejean in her written account. In addition, she stated, most executed prisoners are black Americans who have murdered Caucasians.) Her experience with Sonnier, who was executed in the electric chair in early 1984, and her work with the criminal justice system led her into years of activism fighting the death penalty - be it hanging, electrocution or lethal injection - as a form of punishment.

But Prejean was not one-sided in her compassion and recognition of the need for help. After working with prisoners' rights for several years, Prejean also founded programs in Louisiana to aid victims' relatives and to inform them of their rights in the judicial system.

After seeing the film "Dead Man Walking," I quickly purchased a copy (now well-worn and dog-eared) of the book that inspired the film, Prejean's written account of her relationships with death-row inmates and her beliefs about capital punishment.

Prejean is not naïve about the people she has dealt with in her work - she recognizes that as a free, kind-hearted woman with legal and political resources, there are many motivations for prisoners to take advantage of her.

But she also recognizes the occasional corruption in the judicial system, the often-politically-motivated government approval of a prisoner's death, and the way responsibility for the execution is displaced by employees who just want to do their job.

In an ideal world, it would not be necessary to resolve these opposing sides of prisoner and society, of bad and good. In her writing, Prejean recognizes that the truth is not always black and white, and struggles to sort through the gray areas.

The film depends on strong visual imagery to make its statement, and Penn portrays an unrepentant, self-proclaimed "victim of the political system" sacrificed to a bloodthirsty society. Prejean's written account, however, is powerful because it avoids such abstract images and concentrates on the facts of capital punishment - on how biased the judicial system can unintentionally be and on how fatal mistakes are sometimes made.

I don't admire Prejean solely because of her stance against capital punishment. I admire her compassion, and the way she has attempted to balance the sides of justice - the right of a victim's family and of society, seeking vengeance for a violent crime, with the right of an individual to live. I admire her energy, and the strength it must have taken to record her work to share with a critical public. In my mind, she embodies what social activism should be. She works for justice for all people, without becoming self-righteous or taking sides.

To Sister Helen Prejean: Thank you. Without ever knowing it, you have become one of the most important role models in my life.

And to that date back in high school, all those years ago: I'm sorry things didn't work out, Nic. It wasn't you, it was me.

Prejean will be speaking at Rackham Auditorium on Monday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. See next week's Daily for an interview with Prejean and a review of her lecture.

-Jessica can be reached via e-mail at jeaton@umich.edu.

02-17-99