Cooley Law School Lecture by Benjamin Crump
Parks & Crump Law Firm
February 2014
Presented by The Black Law Students Association
Mr. Crump, Trial Lawyer:
The measure of a man is not where he stands in convenience it's where he stands in controversy.
The measure of a man.What is the value of a man? Warren Buffett invested small 20 years ago. We value investment, what it yields. There should be a greater return on our young people when you quantify the value of life.
Jordan Davis, Vanetia McBride, Trayvon Martin...
You are the talented 10th. You won't be saved unless you lift up. Not just lip service. Talented 10th crème of the crop, not to look the other way. Why did he bless you with a talent to bless the least of these?
Home-boys, home-girls there is an obligation to help them in life. An obligation to answer the bell when no one is looking.
I received a phone call from Tracy Martin in Jacksonville when his teenager was shot. I was in court, and the phone was vibrating all morning. Jasmine Rand my civil rights director, and Patricia Jones said they had to get me involved in this case.
Mr. Tracey Benjamin Martin was on the phone with sounds of despair. He said, his 17 yr old was walking home from 7/11 when the neighborhood watch shot him. Trayvon had an ice tea, and a bag of skittles.
I said you don't need me Mr. Martin. Their going to arrest him . Call me in a couple days, if they don't. I found out they were not going to arrest, because of Stand Your Ground. My partner Daryl Parks said it would take a lot of money, and resources.
There was an Orlando all stars game that night. Only one media outlet covered the case for 39 seconds – unarmed black youth was killed. “It was one of those things you step out and do right, and God takes over.”
You want nice cars, nice clothes, they will come. Answer the call when nobody's looking.
I had a series of interviews with Sybrina Martin, the mother of Trayvon with Gayle King, Anderson Cooper, politics nation. A baby's gone. Not coming back.
There was a NY rally at Grant Park near Rockefeller Plaza. My mother called the news broke into her soap operas.
At the rally Sybrina told supporters at the million hoodies rally, “I simply want to thank you all for standing up for Trayvon.
Lawyers, there is an importance of precedence, because the new playbook says, young black males look suspicious,' because they're stereotyped. How does the law apply to race? Think about it. What is the message sent?
There's another case. A married lady shot in the air, fearing the husband might beat her again. In court he said, “I beat all my women.” She's in jail.
In the Jordan Davis case there were 3 attempted murder verdicts that indicate if you miss that equals jail time, and if you kill it's a mistrial.
Social Engineers, Lawyers are framing the Stand Your Ground law.
Rahnisia McBride...George Zimmerman's verdict against Trayvon was so insane to me.
“They always get away?” He (Trayvon) was running away. If he (Zimmerman ) just stayed in his car …. Trayvon would be alive.
The stand your ground law, it's gone overboard. Popcorn in theaters. It's the wild wild west.
Michael Dunn loud music case. Is that a reason to take the law in your hands? Could you imagine if the roles were reversed, and white teenagers were playing rock & roll?
Friends I'm tired of talking about it. I have to live it everyday. Can't fathom it. Our children are targets. What we remember most is the silence of our friends.
We need to invest in our children. Trayvon's brother Javaris is in his last year of college.
Black on black crime, cause and effect. Black on White crime 90% conviction rate. White on Black crime 37% conviction rate. One set is justifiable, while the other set is held accountable. Blacks are 13% of the ppn. vs 50% of the prison ppn.
Careers are made when nobody's watching, hear the bell ring.
Mr. Crump noted more cases that are in the national spotlight including the profiling of a black police officer in Chicago.
Future barristers as you go remember the word Thurgood Marshall, “ A black baby born to the most uneducated southerner has the same rights of one born to the most articulate in a northern state.”
I challenge anyone that it's a goal worth fighting.
America's creed equals justice for all Americans. If this argument is sufficient to you I await your verdict. Answer the call.
One of the questions he took from the floor was about the Castle Doctrine:
Homeowners have no duty to retreat, if at home in the residence. Vs Stand Your Ground allowing just about anywhere to become the wild wild west!
Stand your ground laws seem daunting with the gun violence in Connecticut with the babies, Colorado, and elsewhere.
There is a Trayvon Amendment in Florida that will be up against the powerful NRA & Second Amendment Lobbyist. The Amendment simply states you can't be the aggressor, and you can't start the fight.
Mr. Crump is actively in support of amending, or repealing Stand Your Ground laws nationwide.
http://parkscrump.com
by Patricia Britt
Attorney Benjamin Crump joined the ranks of civil rights trailblazers by saying yes to Trayvon's father when he needed a voice to speak for his, and Sybrina's parental anguish. Notes from a lecture given to aspiring attorneys at Cooley Law School. Atty Crump is a mentor too.
2014 Copyright Zimation Arts & Letters Ink
by Patricia Britt
Attorney Benjamin Crump joined the ranks of civil rights trailblazers by saying yes to Trayvon's father when he needed a voice to speak for his, and Sybrina's parental anguish. Notes from a lecture given to aspiring attorneys at Cooley Law School. Atty Crump is a mentor too.
2014 Copyright Zimation Arts & Letters Ink
