Benjamin Crump’s passion for justice is contagious.
It would be difficult for most people to not be moved by his accounts of representing families of victims from some of the most tragic cases of injustice in the United States, most notably Trayvon Martin.
Crump’s goal is not just to win those high profile cases, but also to motivate everyone to stand up for equal protection under the law.
“All of the cases are unique in their own way,” Crump said in an exclusive interview with the Recorder. “What they all have in common is a desperate plea for justice. A plea for help to not let someone’s life be in vain. That’s what we see over and over again with these cases.”
Crump said he heard those pleas when calls were placed to his law firm by individuals like Martin’s father and the mother of Martin Lee Anderson, a 14-year-old who died while incarcerated in a juvenile detention center in 2006. She said people like her don’t get justice.
“That troubled me to no end,” Crump said. “Even though court documents, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights all say that you as an American citizen have the right to get equal justice, it continues to be perpetuated that certain people, especially Black and brown people, are not afforded equal justice under the law.”
Crump will be the special guest for the annual Founders’ Banquet hosted by the Zeta Phi Chi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. on Nov. 15 at the Marriott Hotel East.
Ezell Marrs, the fraternity’s representative for Indiana and chairman of the local chapter’s Achievement Week Committee, said Crump was received very well as the speaker for the fraternity’s national leadership event in Kansas City this summer.
“He has worked on some very compelling cases and we just thought he would be a good addition to our program,” Marrs said. “He will have some good words that will be of interest to the city of Indianapolis.”
As an Omega, Crump has consistently praised the fraternity for making him who he is today, saying it “made a world of difference” by teaching him character and important lessons such as not quitting and that life is not always fair.
Crump, a native of Lumberton, N.C., is an attorney with the prominent Tallahassee, Fla., based law firm Parks & Crump, known for representing victims and the families of victims of alleged injustice at the hands of individuals, corporations and government officials.
Currently, Crump is representing the family of Kendrick Johnson, the Georgia teen who, in January, was found dead inside a rolled up wrestling mat in a high school gymnasium. Sheriff’s investigators concluded that Johnson somehow died in a freak accident, falling headfirst into an upright mat and becoming trapped, possibly while trying to retrieve a shoe. Johnson’s family suspects he was murdered, and asked authorities to take another look at the case.
“He went to school with a book bag and was returned the next day in a body bag,” Crump said. “It’s like, don’t we have the right to equal protection and justice under the law? We are asking for due process, because Kendrick Johnson’s family has the right to a proper investigation to get to the truth of what happened to their child.”
Johnson’s body was exhumed in May, and his parents hired a private pathologist who discovered that his organs were missing and newspaper had been used to fill the body cavity. In addition, the pathologist stated that Johnson died from blunt force trauma near his carotid artery and that the fatal blow appeared to be non-accidental.
Crump called Johnson’s death a real-life murder mystery.
“It defies all logic, the rules of science and common sense that a 17-year-old athlete would climb into a wrestling mat and get stuck trying to get a tennis shoe and stop breathing,” Crump said. “The fact that his organs are missing, his clothes that had DNA and blood evidence are missing, his fingernails are missing. All of this is missing and it just substantiates the belief that this was not an accident.”
Crump and his legal team achieved an early victory in the case recently after a judge ruled that surveillance footage from the high school where Johnson’s body was found must be shown, over objections from the sheriff’s department.
Another well-known case Crump has been involved with is that of Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman as he walked through a Florida neighborhood to his father’s house in February, 2012.
An early decision by local authorities to not prosecute Zimmerman sparked outrage among many as well as a national discussion about racial profiling and the use of so-called ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws.
To the disappointment of Martin’s family, Crump and supporters across the country, Zimmerman was found not guilty by a jury in July. Other legal options include a possible federal investigation and a civil suit against Zimmerman.
“Trayvon’s family and others in their situation that we don’t hear about in the media want to believe that it is possible for their children to get equal justice too, that America also respects their children’s lives and dreams,” Crump said. “For many families, over and over, that hope has been broken. That’s what our law firm is fighting for.”
Still, Crump is hopeful, and believes that residents of communities across the country can make major contributions to the fight for justice.
He called on communities to “change conversation into legislation” that can help close loopholes in certain laws such as stand your ground rules that allow people to get away with injustice.
Crump also encouraged people, particularly youth using social media, to continue to speak out boldly against injustice to prompt officials to take action, as they did during the Zimmerman case.
“They should refuse to be silent, and be heard over and over again,” he said.
Crump asked successful individuals to join him in reaching back to mentor youth and help them prepare for the future.
“If we don’t believe in them, nobody is going to believe in them,” he stated. “We have to value our children and believe they can be successful.”
For more statements from Benjamin Crump on recent cases, visit indianapolisrecorder.com.
