When these five Black lawyers set out on their journeys to receive a professional legal education, they did not realize | dG1fZFhLZlltaExQelE
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00:00Going to law school, understanding the rule of law, I could be a help to my community
00:06and to others.
00:07I come from a family where there were no lawyers.
00:10Just no one.
00:11My white counterparts, their dad was a lawyer.
00:14Their mom was a lawyer.
00:15Their grandpa was a lawyer.
00:16Especially being around people whose parents, whose great grandparents are all college educated.
00:20I never thought about being a black student as being a detriment because students of color
00:27who are there are shaking the game up just by being there.
00:30So going to my law school, it was a PWI, Predominantly White Institution.
00:34So I was reminded daily, weekly, I am still a black student in a predominantly white program.
00:41Am I here alone amongst this sea of white people, you know?
00:47I'm the only black person in this section of 40 people where no one wants me in their
00:51study group.
00:52Wow.
00:53It's just me.
00:54Okay.
00:55Here we go again.
00:56Here we go again.
00:57I think you think about what is law school and then you go through it and then you're
01:02like, whoa.
01:03It is going to be uncomfortable for you as a black person to be talking about the humanity
01:06of your own people and be debating the merits of slavery, for instance, right?
01:10Having read a lot of slave narratives that talk about women who would slit the throats
01:14of their children rather than have them sold back into slavery.
01:18I refuse to engage in debate with people about my own humanity, my own right to dignity.
01:22Law is an institution that was, you know, created by white or white counterparts, right?
01:26This wasn't for us.
01:27This wasn't built with us in mind.
01:29So it's really empowering to know that I'm a part of a community that didn't necessarily
01:34want me in it, but I made my way there.
01:37There's always someone, somebody who is not being treated fairly.
01:42And we are lawyers.
01:43We are advocates to provide justice for the folks who need it.
01:47And if not you, then who?
01:49I was tired of seeing so many unarmed black young men being killed at the hands of police.
01:56The law, the law that we rest our heads on, didn't conceptualize black people as people.
02:02And now knowing that I have access to shift and change the law, to provide access to people,
02:07to become lawyers and continue to change those things now, is very much American.