![\"Civil](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2023\/01\/21\/PFSU\/af9cf551-7fb9-419d-8467-e275673fddd1-a_and_c_photo_crump.jpeg?width=512&height=288&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/figure>\nFSU\u2019s Club Downunder held a Golden Torch Lecture Series last Tuesday with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Week. Crump spoke on the inequities within the United States criminal justice system and his ongoing battle to fight racial injustice.<\/p>\n
Crump, a graduate of Florida State, has represented the families of many high-profile civil rights cases in the country, including those of Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Martin Lee Anderson, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Dubbed \u201cBlack America\u2019s Attorney General\u201d for his hard work fighting racial inequality, Crump\u2019s appearance on campus was a unique opportunity for students and faculty to continue the conversation of justice for Black America.<\/p>\n
The event commenced with a few words from Provost Jim Clark about King and his resolute attitude toward racial equality and was followed by a moment of silence to honor King\u2019s life and legacy. FSU\u2019s Rachel Anderson belted out a soulful rendition of \u201cThe Star Spangled Banner,\u201d before the FSU Gospel Choir performed the \u201cBlack National Anthem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
After being met with a round of applause, Crump walked out on stage donning snakeskin loafers with law-themed dress socks depicting gavels and the scales of justice. He soon took a seat next to his interviewer, FSU\u2019s sociology and African American studies professor, Dr. Shantel Buggs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked why he chose to become a civil rights attorney, Crump explained that his time growing up in Lumberton, NC made him realize as a young child that \u201cracism was not an organic dynamic.\u201d After being told by his mother that Black kids were now allowed to enjoy the privileges of white kids in his town because of civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall\u2019s work in the case Brown v. Board of Education, Crump vowed that his career would be dedicated to helping \u201cpeople who look like me\u201d have an equal opportunity at achieving the American dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
From then on, Crump worked his way into acceptance at FSU, a place where he said he discovered that he could achieve anything that he set his mind to. \u201cWe were inspired that we could change the world,\u201d said Crump. The North Carolina native grew both socially and academically, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice and Juris Doctor by 1995. At FSU, as he proudly stated, he also became a lifelong member of The Mighty Mighty Chi Theta chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.<\/p>\n\n
When it comes to why he chooses to be at the forefront of such troubling civil rights cases, Crump explains the importance of representing tragedies to change humanity. He says that in order for the basis of the American Constitution to be met: \u201cA Black baby born to a Black mother, the most uneducated, most inarticulate, most impoverished Black woman has the same exact rights as a white baby born to a white mother, the most educated, most articulate, most affluent white mother just by virtue of that baby drawing his first breath as an American citizen,\u201d said Crump.<\/p>\n
While Crump said that most policy-making cannot keep up with the advancements of social media in today\u2019s world, he mentioned that there is an advantage to having the truth caught on camera and shared with a mass medium. \u201cWithout the video of George Floyd, those officers would not have been convicted,\u201d said Crump. Crump explained that a different narrative had already been written that night by the officers that would have allowed them to not be charged had there been no one filming that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Dr. Bugg\u2019s questions concluded, Crump allowed audience members to come forward with their own questions in a Q&A period. The FSView asked for the lawyer\u2019s stance on police accountability and defunding the police.<\/p>\n
Crump replied that while police are the \u201cmost digital people we see,\u201d committing acts of racial inequality, \u201cit\u2019s the system.\u201d Crump went on to say that one in three Black men are convicted felons in America and that over 40 percent of those on death row are Black men. \u201cJust because they call it legal, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s right,\u201d the civil rights attorney states. \u201cOne and every three Black men will have to wear [that] scarlet letter for the rest of their lives as a second-class citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Crump concluded the event with a statement on why everyone should join the battle against racial injustice and inequality. \u201c…When we fight for the Trayvon Martins of the world, when we fight for the Breonna Taylors of the world, when we fight for the George Floyds of the world and more importantly when we fight the least of these, what we are doing is helping America live up to its creed,\u201d said Crump. \u201cBut what we are really doing is helping America be America for all Americans, for we must make them make the law an instrument of good.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Limage, president of the Mighty, Mighty Chi Theta Chapter, shared his feelings on seeing one of his own have so much success and influence in the world while bringing justice to those without a voice. \u201cI feel like Brother Crump sets such a high standard for our organization, [so] it makes us prideful to identify with a group that he\u2019s a part of.”<\/p>\n
Student Government Association (SGA) president Sam Diaz says he hopes to implement some of the ideas Crump advocated for during Tuesday\u2019s Q&A to prevent discriminatory acts against marginalized groups at FSU, like the recent planned attack on the LGBTQ+ community<\/a>. \u201cLearning from his examples will help us continue promoting human and civil rights here on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n