The Arts Matter.
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world.
Whoopie Goldberg talking about her new book “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me” with Pen America‘s William Johnson.
Kind, forgiving, honest, like sitting with family.
The documentary ” I am Ready Warden”
In the days leading up to his execution, Texas death row prisoner John Henry Ramirez and his victim’s son speak to the cost to their lives. Honest, brave and human.
Bryan Stevenson:
“We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others…
…we all need mercy, we all need justice, and – perhaps – we all need some measure of unmerited grace.”
“We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent”
“An enduring corrective ethic takes work and decision, getting ready to say or hear hard things, resisting easy answers, telling the truth as we see it, grieving, raging, welcoming disagreement and diverse thinking, willingness to admit error, and celebrating learning. A truthful conclusion is more likely, more believable across sectarian boundaries, when it comes from such engagement.”