“But interracial dating, particular with a married white woman, was for many whites, an unconscionable act. In the south , crimes like murder or assault might send you to prison, but interracial sex was a transgression in it’s own category of danger with correspondingly extreme punishments. Hundreds of black men have been lynched for even unsubstantiated suggestions of such intimacy” (Stevenson 29.) 

- This explains that interracial dating or sex was prohibited for blacks and the only punishment for them was death.

“He knew about the affair with Karen Kelly and had heard the suspicion and rumors that Walter’s independence must mean he was dealing drugs. Given his eagerness to make an arrest, this seemed to be enough for Tate to accept Myer’s accusations” (Stevenson 50-51). 

- The sheriff decided to arrest Walter not from actual evidence but based off of Myer’s story that he killed Ronda Morrison. 

“In Alabama, even though 65 percent of all homicide victims were black , nearly 80 percent of the people on death row were there for crimes against victims who were white. Black defendant and white victim pairings increased the likelihood of a death sentence more” (Stevenson 142).” 

- This explains that if you're a black defendant and there is a white victim involved , you are most likely going to be given a death sentence no matter what. 

“In poor urban neighborhoods across the United States, black and brown boys routinely have multiple encounters with the police. Even though many of these children have done nothing wrong, they are targeted by police, presumed guilty, and suspected by law enforcement of being dangerous or engaged in criminal activity. The random stops, questioning, and harassment dramatically increase the risk of arrest for petty crimes” (Stevenson 155). 

- This explains that black and brown boys were targeted by the police just based on their looks. 

“I stopped in the prison yard to take a closer look at the truck. I couldn’t help walking around it and reading the provocative stickers. I turned back toward the front gate of the prison, trying to regain my focus, but I couldn’t make myself indifferent to what I perceived were symbols of racial oppression” (Stevenson 194). 

- I decided to choose this quote because a couple of pages earlier in the book, it described the disturbing bumper stickers to be Confederate flag decals, troubling images, and a sticker that read, “IF I’D KNOWN IT WAS GOING TO BE LIKE THIS, I’D HAVE PICKED MY OWN DAMN COTTEN.” 

"The older officer frowned at me. 'Someone called about a suspected burglar'" (Stevenson 42)

- This explains why Stevenson was stopped by a police officer and was immediately suspected because of his skin tone. 

“They put me on death row for six years! They threatened me for six years. They tortured me with the promise of execution for six years. I lost my job. I lost my wife. I lost my reputation. I lost my dignity”(Stevenson 254).

- This explains that the mental health of Walter is affected and it also has a profound effect on his lives even after release and it was only due to Racism that he was treated badly.

“Why do we want to kill all the broken people? What is wrong with us, that we think a thing like that can be right?”(Stevenson 636)

- I have chosen this quote because Stevenson exposes the injustices of the judicial system in the United States. He wonders what is the reason for killing people who are already broken by poverty, injustice or racism.

“Walter 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.”

(Stevenson 693).

- Through this statement Stevenson has described the flaws of the US judicial system that how it treats the rich people and does injustice to the poor.

“His story was a counter narrative to the rhetoric of fairness and reliability offered by politicians and law enforcement officials who wanted more and faster executions. Walter’s case complicated the debate in very graphic ways”(Stevenson 537)

 This quote symbolizes the hatred that the law enforcement officials carried with them and the systemic racism in which they did not care for the severity of the crime, but just wanted more executions resulting in many POC’s, especially African Americans to be executed for miniscule crimes.