LEXINGTON, Va. – Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and more.
Attorney Ben Crump has led the charge in some of the most prominent wrongful death civil rights lawsuits of the last decade.
Washington and Lee welcomed Crump on Sunday to kick off a week of Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations.
“As we remember Dr. Martin Luther King and his contributions to society, it was always about trying to be of service to your fellow man,” Crump said.
He spoke to an audience of several hundred people about the injustices people of color face now decades after Dr. King’s death.
“I stand on the shoulders of Dr. King and Thurgood Marshall, and as I talked in the lecture today, we have to remind people that if they’re gonna call themselves good people, they can’t see evil, they can’t see injustice and look the other way,” Crump said.
With so many high-profile cases, he said he often feels the weight of his job. But uses it to motivate change.
“Does it shock your conscience? Like the George Floyd video shocked my conscience,” he said. “Breonna Taylor being killed in the sanctity of her own home shocked my conscience.”
He said that we have made progress as a country - but it will not bring back the lives lost for their families.
“If you can give them some measure of justice,” he said. “Understanding that the harm will never be truly repaired, but we can try to at least make this world a better place.”
When Crump looks back on his life, he wants to be known for making it better for the generations to come.
“At the end of my life, I hope they say that he did his very best to be a light in this world,” he said. “And we all have the opportunity to be a light in this world, to make a better world for all of our children.”