Black Lawyers Meet, Declare: ‘Black Lives Matter’

By J.A. Salaam -Staff Writer- | Last updated: Jul 26, 2016 - 12:59:38 PM

Mothers of the Movement in Ferguson Sybrina Fulton (T. Martin), Collette Flanagan (C. Allen), Lezley McSpadden (M.Brown), Lucia McBath (J. Davis), Marian Tolan (R. Tolan).

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The National Bar Association, composed of Black lawyers from across the country, marked its 91st year as an organization here in the Gateway City as about 1,000 of its 20,000 members attended a week-long conference. There were workshops, debates, discussions of issues affecting the Black community and planning sessions for the organization’s future.

The convention began with a panel discussion featuring “Fathers of the Movement,” including Mike Brown Sr., whose son Michael, Jr., was killed by a White police officer in nearby Ferguson, Mo., Ron Davis, Jordan Davis’ father; Oscar Grant’s uncle Bobby Johnson and Tracy Martin, Trayvon Martin’s father. All of these Black men had sons and one a nephew who died in an encounter with a Caucasian officer or White male armed with a gun. The lawyer’s group came to St. Louis July 16 determined to collaborate and strategize on ways to bring more awareness to public policy and laws that should protect the lives of American citizens—protections that are often missing when it comes to Black people.

The group’s stance against injustice and against blatant disregard for Black lives is one attorney and former National Bar Association President Benjamin Crump encouraged.

Atty. Anthony Gray, Atty. Benjamin Crump, Rev. Jackson at the site of Mike Brown’s death with Lezley McSpadden and Sybrina Fulton.

“Whenever we consider all of the things that have been happening all across the country, be it Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Philando Castile in Minnesota or whether it be the 13 Black women who were raped by the Asian White police officer and any litany of things that happen as we head into this Democratic convention, that is so critical while they try to disenfranchise voters of color. We continue to be at the vanguard of progress and a criminal justice system that disproportionately warehouses, incarcerates and imprisons Black and Brown bodies,” said Atty. Crump, who has represented many of the families who lost loved ones, including Trayvon Martin, killed in 2012, and Michael Brown, Jr., whose August, 2014 death sparked a movement against police violence and murder.

“This is our challenge as we know based on the legacy of Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston, Johnny Cochran, Constance Motley and the list goes on and on,” he said. “We are grateful to be in St. Louis to be reminded of our purpose as lawyers of color and being the legal voice for the consciousness of our communities.”

Atty. Crump served as the 73rd National Lawyers Association president.

Potential civil unrest is on the rise again in America after the police shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul, Minn. Demonstrators are declaring “Black Lives Matter,” but deaths of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge have increased support for law enforcement in some quarters and expedited passage of a “Blue Lives Matter” bill in Louisiana.

This bill would classify attacks against police officers as hate crimes and become effective Aug. 1. According to the Louisiana State Legislature website, a hate crime law was amended to include actual or perceived targeting of law enforcement officers or firefighters.

“I think they’re trying to split factions ... Blue Lives Matter versus Black Lives Matter. We have to say Black Lives Matter because all of the evidence in front of us has the appearance that the government does not value Black lives,” said Houston-based lawyer Alfred Benoit. “Across the board, the government is clear in their value of police officers and the people who protect us and who wear the uniform. I think it confuses the hate crimes bill that’s put in effect to protect those who are under-protected in our society—the gay and lesbian community, specifically minorities.”

“Our country, has a history of targeting African Americans, Hispanics, and people of minority descent by the majority and that’s why the hate crime laws is put into place was to bring light and put extra punishment on those persons. So when you violate the hate crime or you are charged with a hate crime, you are put into a separate category than someone who is charged with a regular crime,” he explained. “That means that you went out and you sought out a person of color or person of a protected class to do harm to them. But by adding police officers, it’s going to be difficult to determine if the person who is being accused actually went after the police officer. Because under this new law you can be charged if you are in the commission of another crime and the police officer gets hurt.”

The attorney added, “In America we have a tyranny problem disguised as a security problem. The enforcement of laws that are in place now is selective and geared towards the promulgation of a tyrannical government. We are allowing our police officers to not just to do their job but to exceed the scope of the policies and procedures that are put in place for use of force. And I believe it’s being condoned in the auspice of security. I mean they’re covering it under the blanket that we’re trying to stop these ‘terrorists attacks,’ ‘we’re under attack.’ But the real basis of it, I believe, is the police officers are now a tyrannical force. They are now a force on their own that has become maybe even too powerful for the—lack of a better word—the weak elected officials to even stand up to. They just don’t have the backbone to stand up to them.”

“They’re going in to oppress any resistance, by any means necessary. They’re rolling in on tanks in neighborhoods where the people are unarmed. Where the people are coming out in a peaceful protest and all of the police officers are geared up with riot gear, and when anyone calls them on their abusive tactics you’re labeled against security, you’re labeled you’re against police. But we as citizens should not be treated like we’ve declared war on the police or on this country because we haven’t,” he said

About 250 association members visited the site of Mike Brown, Jr.’s tragic death in nearby Ferguson, Mo., during the convention. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Atty. Crump and Atty. Anthony Gray, TV host Ed Gord0n, Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin mother; Lucia McBath, Jordan Davis mother; Marian Tolan, mother of Robbie Tolan and Collette Flanagan, mother of Clinton Allen joined Mike Brown Jr.’s mother Lezley McSpadden for prayer at a street marker where he died. Then it was on to Greater St. Marks Church for a discussion about the struggles of families and loved ones coping with loss at the hands of a police officer or assumed authority figure.

Adrienne Hood, mother of slain 23-year-old Henry Green, killed by police in Columbus, Ohio on June 6, choked up as she stepped to the mic. She cried out to other mothers for help. “He was 23, no children, my question to the mothers is, how do I keep his name going? How do I get justice for my son when they’re already trying to push it under the mat? What do I do with all of this pain? How can I turn this pain into purpose so that somebody else’s son doesn’t suffer like I have and my son did? Again, his name is Henry Green and he was shot by plainclothes officers in Columbus, Ohio in an unmarked vehicle,” she said.

Trayvon Martin’s mother vowed to offer support. “It won’t ever go away. The pain will be there every time you think about him, every time you think about times of laughter, every time you ask why. We are here to help you sister, you are not alone, we will support each other,” said Sybrina Fulton.

“It’s incumbent on us to come back to the communities where we grew up in and help people because they are looking at us. We are the ones who were able to make it out of the community and get our law degrees. So we have the potential and the capabilities to help people out and we have to get out of these big high-rise buildings working as general counsels and attorneys for the big companies and go back to our community and be the voice for the voiceless,” said Atty. Derrick Washington of Dallas, Texas.

The Final Call