![]() With his shaved head, dark-hued suits and an Eagle of Justice pin fixed to his lapel, he bears himself with the soothing solemnity of a church deacon. And he has represented the family of Breonna Taylor, the Black woman who was shot and killed last year by police in her Louisville home during a botched drug investigation.Ĭrump has plunged so much into the sorrows of Black families that he sometimes seems more like a grief counselor than a lawyer. He also represents the family of Ahmaud Arbery, the young Black man who was chased and fatally shot while jogging near his Georgia home last year. Al Sharpton, right, raise their hands in triumph after the murder conviction against former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd. Crump was recently seen on television celebrating with the family of George Floyd after a jury returned a guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin, the White police officer charged with Floyd’s murder.īen Crump, flanked by Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, center left, and the Rev. He is the nation’s most famous civil rights attorney - you’ve probably seen him even if you don’t know his name. The 51-year-old Crump has been at the center of virtually every racial firestorm in the last eight years. He’s done this by becoming the go-to attorney for Black families that have lost a loved one to police or vigilante violence. “Every chance I get, I try to force them to have a conscious thought about that question because a lot of times until you engage them, they don’t really get it,” Crump says by phone from the home office of his law firm in Tallahassee, Florida.Ĭrump has been forcing Americans to answer tough questions about their nation’s criminal justice system for years now. But “hands up, don’t shoot” doesn’t work for unarmed Black people who “continue to be gunned down, often on sight,” he says. The United States has a two-tiered justice system where even White mass shooters are routinely taken alive. “I’ll wait for you to give me a name.”Ĭrump says the exercise is designed to drive home a lesson he learned as a civil rights attorney. “Not to worry,” Crump says after a minute of awkward silence. Audience members rattle off names like George Floyd, Michael Brown and Breonna Taylor.Ĭrump then asks them to name one White man who has died under similar circumstances. The man who has been called “Black America’s attorney general” asks listeners if they can name five Black people who have been killed by excessive police force. ![]() When he gives a speech, Ben Crump often springs an uncomfortable question on his audience.
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