Sheree R. Curry
- The Tire Nichols family recently hired “Black America Attorney General” Benjamin Crump as an advisor.
- Ben Crump said civil rights cases make up less than 3 percent of his income, but he spends most of his time working in the media.
- He hopes the financial fallout for institutions will lead to policies that save black lives.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is a key voice many black Americans rely on, far beyond the scope of police brutality cases — from racial discrimination class actions against Google and Wells Fargo to Johnson & Johnson knowing its talcum powder caused ovarian cancer and rappers Travis Scott and Astroworld music festival organizer Live Nation are responsible for a 2021 Houston concert stampede that killed 10 people and injured hundreds more.
In past years, he has also represented the U.S. government on behalf of Marines who developed breast cancer linked to toxic tap water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and as a Florida amusement park ride operator after 14-year-old Tire Sampson fell from his seat and fell 400 feet to his death.Crump and his co-lawyers Also won a $411 million judgment on behalf of a motorcycle rider who was partially paralyzed after hitting a truck with its lights out while parked on a Florida highway.
Still, most Americans who recognize Crump, 53, are likely aware of his work in cases involving excessive force by police or vigilantes who call themselves a “stand the ground” defense. He advocated for the families of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Andre Hill, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, Joshua Wright and others he said suffered wrongful death.
Crump recently made national headlines alongside the grieving mother of Tire Nichols, a 29-year-old black man who died last month after being mercilessly beaten by Memphis police.
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Lie down and rest:VP Kamala Harris speaks at Tire Nichols’ funeral
Crump said such cases accounted for less than 5 percent of his workload and less than 3 percent of his firm’s revenue, but they accounted for the majority of his news media appearances.
Crump, known as “black american attorney generalAl Sharpton, who filed the civil lawsuit to hold the city and police department accountable until the senseless killing of black Americans ends.
“I wake up every morning knowing that my calling in life is to be a staunch defender of Black lives, Black freedom and Black humanity,” said Crump, who was named time As one of the most influential people in 2021. “I don’t care how unpopular it becomes, we will never be ashamed or afraid to stand up for our people.”
Tire Nichols family attorney on black upbringing
Crump’s values and positions are shaped by his environment.
“Growing up we didn’t see the police being very nice to us,” he said. “They’re the ones who will harass black people on a regular basis.”
For example, he recalls an incident when he was 10 years old living in North Carolina, when he said the police decided to teach one of his uncles a lesson.
“[My uncle]was one of the first people in my hometown to get a scholarship to go to a predominantly white college, Wake Forest,” he said. “When my uncle came home from college, (the police) were going to let him know that even though he went to college, he was still black like the rest of us. We watched them beat him up in the parking lot of the project. It stays in my heart made an indelible impact.”
“I think when I grow up, I don’t want to feel helpless like we all felt watching my uncle get brutalized,” he said. to help face these feelings of injustice, which is why I fight so hard.”
Crump said his law firm receives about 500 requests for representation each day. He travels across the country, working with other firms and doing cases to the best of his ability.he used to be mainly
Florida, where his clinic is located. But that was before Crump became almost synonymous with “say his name,” a phrase often chanted by protesters when police kill an unarmed black man.
Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd: Cases show gradual progression
Crump rose to prominence while representing the Trayvon Martin family. In February 2012, the 17-year-old was chased and shot dead by a Community Watch participant while walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, Florida. Crump said he went out of his way to promote Martin going to the store to buy Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea because it was important for the public to see young people just like that — a typical teen.
“To have a chance at justice, you have to be able to humanize black people and marginalized people of color. If you can’t humanize them, then you’re showing society that these black people don’t deserve your respect, consideration, or professional — Worst of all, they don’t deserve your humanity,” he said.
Martin’s killer was acquitted of second-degree murder after claiming self-defense. He said he confronted the teenager because he looked “suspicious”. A nearby homeowners association agreed to settle a wrongful-death claim with Martin’s parents for more than $1 million.
Martin’s death and the acquittal of his killer sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, and Crupp became the attorney of choice for dozens of wrongful-death lawsuits across the country. Many of the high-profile cases he and his co-counsel negotiated were settled without trial.
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Andrew Hill:Columbus agrees to pay $10 million to family of unarmed black Andre Hill killed by police
Breonna Taylor:Feds charge 4 Louisville police officers in Breonna Taylor shooting
George Floyd:Ex-Minneapolis police officer pleads guilty to manslaughter in George Floyd’s death
Tire Nichols:Case reignites conversation among lawmakers on federal police legislation
Family of Michael Brown’s 18-year-old shot six times by police gets $1.5 million settlement from Ferguson, Mo.; Hill’s family settles with Columbus, Ohio, $10 million Settlement after unarmed 47-year-old was shot four times by an officer outside garage with only a cell phone in his hand; Taylor’s family gets $12 million from Louisville, KY for no-knock warrant Taylor, 26, was shot dead. Floyd’s family received a $27 million settlement from the city of Minneapolis.
Crump said each case represented incremental progress. He hopes the financial fallout for governments and agencies will lead to policies that save black lives and hold police accountable.
Black Lives Lessons About Education and Work
As a black man born in North Carolina with a bachelor’s and a law degree from Florida State University, Crump realized that the violence and grief experienced by the victims and families he served could just as easily be happening to him. Or the nephew he and his wife Genae help raise. Or his teenage daughter, Brooklyn, who must share her father with families across the country.
He recalls life lessons his mother, Helen, taught him at a similar age. “She said, ‘Life is not fair. Life is hard; you make it fair by what you bring to the table, and if you bring nothing to the table, don’t expect anyone to sit you at the table,’ “He said.
Crump thanks his mother and grandmother Mittie Cordell for their guidance.his work ethic, he said, partly from his mother. When he was growing up, she worked the mornings at a hotel, cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry. She works the second shift in a shoe factory.
“Like most black women, she was able to put food on the table, a roof over our heads and hope in our hearts,” he said. One of the messages that was instilled in him growing up was “work hard to make a difference in your life, your family and your community.”
But he says his grandmother is his real inspiration. “She was just a smart woman, even though she only had an eighth grade education. She had the common sense that many of our ancestors used to process life. I remember she pulled out a subscription to the local newspaper while I was seven or eight years old trying to Read the newspaper with her. We would sound out words and put them in context. She not only taught me the value of education and wisdom, but also showed me that there is a wider world outside of North Carolina.”
Ben Crump on ‘The Ongoing Fight to Give Value to Black Lives’
A member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Crump said seeing him graduate from law school and start his law firm “was (his) life” for his grandmother before he died in 1997 at the age of 86. Highlights”. He added that he has known since fourth grade that he wanted to be a lawyer.
He often tells the story of when, in fourth grade, he had to start taking the bus to school in the white part of town because of desegregation. His mother explained how Thurgood Marshall litigated Brown v. Brown. The case of the board of education that enabled black and white children to attend school together. Crump wants to make a difference like Marshall.
Minneapolis attorney Jeff Storms worked with Crump and attorney Anthony Romanucci on three key Minneapolis civil rights cases , he said Crump genuinely cares about the families he represents. Together, they represent the families of Floyd and Daunte Wright, who were killed by a police officer in suburban Minneapolis in 2021, and the family of Amir Locke, another victim of a no-knock warrant. Victim of a fatal shooting.
Timid Wright:Ex-Minnesota trooper Kim Porter sentenced to 2 years in Dawn Twright’s death
Ahmed Arbery:Georgian father, son sentenced to life in hate crime over Ahmaud Arbery’s death
“Ben possesses a combination of talents that few in a generation can match,” Storms said. “My ongoing working relationship with Ben has proven what I’ve always hoped to be true: that there are key people who lead important causes who value kindness, Empathy … and determination and hard work.”
Although he called such work “the ongoing struggle to give value to black lives,” Crump persevered with hope.
“You know how we abolished slavery, how we abolished segregation? We’re going to get over that too,” he said. “Equal enemies do not win.
