fb-pixelCivil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump draws crowd in Roxbury - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump draws crowd in Roxbury

Benjamin Crump discussed his new book “Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People.”Stephanie Purifoy/for The Boston Globe

Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump brought his national book tour to Roxbury Wednesday night at the invitation of nine different legal organizations, including the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association.

About 100 people crowded the Bruce Bolling Municipal Building for the two hour discussion led by David Harris, managing director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School.

The conservation covered topics such as the criminal justice system, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the legalization of marijuana.

Crump discussed his new book, “Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People,” and signed copies of it.

“Once you are defined as a convicted felon in America, and you happen to be a poor person of color, it becomes a daunting task for you to ever be able to be legitimate and earn an honest living,” he said. “When you are a convicted felon, you can’t get government grants to go get an education. The banks won’t give mortgages or loans to convicted felons. Most states won’t let you get a teaching certificate if you want to become a teacher. Everything that you can do right now will be taken away from you.”

Crump gained national attention when he represented the family of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teenager who was fatally shot in 2012 by a community watch member in Florida.

Advertisement



Many young people of color are often wrongly convicted and the community must support them through their ordeal, Crump said.

“Once they have taken that plea to become a convicted felon, their whole entire life has changed. That prison cell is just waiting for them now,” he said. “So every chance we get, we have to tell our young brothers and sisters who’ve been caught in this trap that we still believe in them, we still love them because if we don’t stand up for our people, no one will.”

Advertisement



Paige Scott Reed, president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, said the group was proud to sponsor Crump’s visit.

“I thought it was so important to bring him here,” Reed said after the discussion. “ You could see it in the audience, with young law students where this is maybe the only chance they’re going to get to see someone like Attorney Crump. . . . That’s a special moment for Boston.”

The program also included a chance for people to ask Crump questions.

One man asked how African-American parents can protect their children from wrongful incarceration.

Crump responded that parents can only do so much, and must rely on the larger community to stand up to injustices.

Rbrey Singleton, 22, a first year law student at UMass-Dartmouth, told Crump he remembered watching news coverage of the Martin case from his home in New Jersey.

Singleton said Crump inspired him to study law

Singleton said he felt reenergized by Crump’s speech.

“It was so inspiring, he called me ‘Attorney Singleton’ and that kind of gave me some extra motivation to head to the library tonight and make sure I can be back in this space and inspire others to become attorneys.”


Stephanie can be reached at stephanie.purifoy@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @stephbpurifoy