Help Fight for Justice

My name is Summer Copen and I'm 12 years old. For my Bat Mitzvah project, I'm raising money to benefit the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), and any donation you make will help make an impact.

Thank you in advance if you decide to donate, because this means a lot to me.

Recently I read a book called Just Mercy, written by Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer and the creator of the EJI. This book made a big impact on me because it talked about all the unfair things that happen to people convicted of crimes, many of whom are on death row. The main story in the book was the story of Walter McMillan, a man who was wrongly convicted of murdering a young girl. Walter was a young black man with a big family. After six years on death row, and with the help of EJI, Walter was finally proven innocent.

Although nobody I know has ever had anything like this happen to them, I was very sad to learn how unfair and unjust our criminal justice system can be, and this made me want to learn more about the work that the EJI does. The more I learn, the more I want to help, and hopefully, make a difference even more.

The EJI works on many issues, not just the death penalty. Some of these include children being put in adult prison, poor and unsafe prison conditions, hunger relief, public education, and a few other things. The EJI has freed over 135 people from death row. If you want to learn more about the EJI you can go to their website, (eji.org). I hope that you will.