“Just Mercy”

With the release of a feature film Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson’s work helping the poor, the incarcertated and the condemned caught up in the criminal justice system will soon be known by millions. Already praised for his book, Just Mercy, and the creation of his Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson is worth a closer look. In honor of Black History Month, Hugh Taft-Morales explores both a cruel and unjust criminal justice system that hits particularly hard on people of color and the efforts of one person to right the scales of justice.

Hugh Taft-Morales joined the Baltimore Ethical Society as its professional leader in 2010, the same year he was certified by the American Ethical Union as an Ethical Culture Leader. He also serves as Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. His presence in Ethical Culture has been termed “invigorating.” Taft-Morales lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife Maureen, a Latin American Analyst with the Congressional Research Service, with whom he has three beloved children, Sean, Maya, and Justin.