A Change of Perspective

It's impossible to say how getting to know a prisoner destined for the death penalty would change any of us. This (white, middle class) author and her family began a relationship with Cecil Johnson, a Black man, convicted of murder, as a church outreach project. What began as an assumption that they would help him, ended up to be something very different. Over many years he became a de facto member of their family, with everyone (including their two daughters) considering him someone special and close to them. His beautiful poetry is not something one would expect from someone sitting on death row. Although there was/is ample evidence that Mr. Johnson did not commit the crime which sent him to await his final day at the hands of the prison system, his position was that prison "saved" his life, literally as well as figuratively. His trajectory had been heading toward disaster, until it was changed abruptly by his sentence. So do we whip up righteous indignation at yet another Black man wrongly convicted and refused a retrial even though there was evidence to support it? Or do we celebrate the fact that a man awaiting his execution managed to find love, meaning and peace in the years he spent behind bars? It's complex, and there's no easy answer here. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful story of a beautiful relationship.