Florida Law School Named After Ben Crump, Race Lawyer Known For Cases Involving Police

St. Thomas University of Miami Gardens FloridaThe law school was named after Ben Crump, a black attorney who was involved in controversial cases involving the police in recent times.

University officials Get joined Crump to christen St. Thomas’ Benjamin L. Crump College of Law on Wednesday in a ceremony at the law school. Crump is a prominent civil rights and personal injuries attorney who has represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown as well as Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

“We have come such a long way in the journey to equality, but we are not there yet,” Crump stated, according to Miami Herald. “The future changemakers and civil justice leaders that will matriculate from St. Thomas will soon be passed the torch from today’s civil rights icons and I have every confidence that they will meet the moment.”

Movie star Will Smith, a friend of Crump’s, was also in attendance.

“There are very few people in the world with a heart like this,” Smith stated. “So, it is with my deepest honor and pleasure to be here to support, show love and give congratulations on this historic honor.”

Crump and the university reached an agreement to name the school. After a goal of $10million was achieved for the Benjamin L. Crump center for social justice, St. Thomas decided that it would name its law school after Crump.

“The Center will create innovative curriculum, develop implicit bias training and policies, and curate programmatic instruction modules and symposia that advance its goals,” the center’s Website says.

The Crump law college is the second American law school named in honor of an African American. Texas Southern University is the first law school to be named after an African American. The Thurgood Marshall Law School at Texas Southern University is named for the first black Supreme Court justice.

Crump is well-known for representing clients in high profile civil rights and injury cases. Crump’s most recent high-profile case is representing the family of Tyre Nichols, a black man allegedly beaten to death by a group of black police officers in Memphis, Tennessee.

Crump has insisted that Nichols’ death is related to police prejudice against black Americans despite the officers charged in relation to the incident being black themselves.

“We have an opportunity here, America, to really speak to this institutionalized police culture and show that it is not just about white officers or Black officers or Hispanic officers,” Crump Last month, after the murder charges were brought in the case. “It’s about police officers having this biased belief that you can get away with doing certain things to Black citizens and brown citizens in America that you cannot get away with white citizens.”

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