Ben Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton says, is 鈥淏lack America鈥檚 attorney general.鈥
In less than a decade, the Florida-based attorney has become the voice for the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and -- Black people whose deaths at the hands of police and vigilantes sparked a movement.
He has won multimillion-dollar settlements in police brutality cases. He鈥檚 pushed cities to ban no-knock warrants. He has told a congressional committee that reform is needed because 鈥渋t鈥檚 become painfully obvious we have two systems of justice; one for white Americans and one for Black Americans.鈥
And he鈥檚 stood with Black farmers taking on an agribusiness giant, and families exposed to lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan.
This week, he's standing with the family of , a Black woman fatally shot after going to the Ocala, Florida, apartment of her white neighbor, who earlier had yelled at and allegedly assaulted Owens鈥 children as they played nearby. He called on the state attorney鈥檚 office to 鈥渮ealously prosecute鈥 the shooter.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a real believer in what he鈥檚 doing. He has taken the attacks. He has taken the cases that others wouldn鈥檛 take,鈥 said, adding, 鈥淧eople can go to him. The reason I trust him is because he has never misled me. Good or bad, he鈥檒l tell me the truth about a client.鈥
These days, he seems to be everywhere. A Florida . Last year, Netflix released 鈥淐ivil,鈥 a documentary about his civil rights work. And in the year prior, TIME named him to its 100 Most Influential People list.
In April of 2021, he joined with George Floyd's family in celebrating the Then he was among the mourners at the funeral for , who was shot during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis in the week leading up to Chauvin鈥檚 verdict 鈥 a juxtaposition he finds incredible.
鈥淚f ever there was a time for police to be on their best behavior, if ever there was a time for them to use the greatest standard of care, if ever there was a time for them to de-escalate, it was during this trial, which I believe was one of the most consequential police (and) civil rights cases in our history,鈥 Crump told The Associated Press in 2021.
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EDITOR鈥橲 NOTE: The Associated Press initially published a version of this profile of Ben Crump on May 2, 2021.
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Critics see him as an opportunist who never fails to show up amid another tragedy. But those who know Crump say he鈥檚 been fighting for fairness long before his name was in headlines.
鈥淲here there鈥檚 injustice, that鈥檚 where he wants to be,鈥 said Ronald Haley, a Louisiana attorney, who鈥檚 among a wide network of lawyers Crump works with on lawsuits. 鈥淗e understands he鈥檚 needed everywhere, but he also understands he can鈥檛 be everywhere.鈥
Crump, 51, is a tireless worker who mixes Southern charm, a talent for attracting media attention to his cases and a firm belief that racism afflicts the nation, and the courts are the place to take it on.
He has an uncanny way of making his clients feel like kin, they say.
鈥淗e has never missed a Thanksgiving to check in on me, he calls on Christmas,鈥 said Allisa Findley, who first met Crump three days after her brother, , was fatally shot in his apartment by a white Dallas police officer who mistook the Black man鈥檚 apartment for her own.
鈥淓ven the little things, he makes time for it, when there are no cameras rolling,鈥 she said. 鈥淗e does feel like family. I consider Ben family.鈥
Terrence Floyd, a younger brother of George Floyd, said Crump鈥檚 attention and care for his family over the last year has bonded them beyond the attorney-client relationship.
鈥淚t feels like it鈥檚 more family-based than business,鈥 he said. 鈥淎fter a while, I went from calling him 鈥楳r. Crump鈥 to calling him 鈥楿nc,鈥 like he was one of my uncles.鈥
Crump keeps up a dizzying schedule that takes him all over, but he makes sure he鈥檚 home for Sunday services at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. He lives in Tallahassee with his wife and their 8-year-old daughter, Brooklyn; he also helped raise two cousins and became their legal guardian.
鈥淚 look at my daughter,鈥 Crump said, 鈥淚 look in her eyes, and then I look in the eyes of my nieces and nephews, and my little cousins 鈥 all these little Black and brown children. You see so much hope, so much optimism in their eyes. We've got to give them a better world.鈥
He added: 鈥淲hat I'm trying to do, as much as I can, even sometimes singlehandedly, is increase the value of Black life.鈥
Crump鈥檚 path to becoming a lawyer and advocate began while growing up in Lumberton, North Carolina, where he was the oldest of nine siblings and step-siblings.
In his book 鈥淥pen Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People,鈥 he described learning in elementary school that a white classmate鈥檚 weekly allowance was as much as what his mother made in a week working two jobs at a shoe factory and a hotel laundry.
鈥淚 wanted to understand why people on the white side of the tracks had it so good and Black people on our side of the tracks had it so bad,鈥 he wrote.
He often recounts how he learned about the world by reading the newspaper to his grandmother and how his mother taught him the story of famed civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall, who became his hero.
鈥淗e has always gravitated toward leadership and being the answer to injustice,鈥 said Sean Pittman, an attorney who has been his friend for 30 years, since they met at Florida State University. There, Crump was president of the Black Student Union and led protests to bring attention to how the school recruited and treated Black students.
But his rise from personal injury attorney to a voice of Black America began in 2013 when he represented the family of , a teenager killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. He then took on the case for the family of who was fatally shot by a white officer near St. Louis.
Crump organized marches and brought media attention to both of their deaths 鈥 each happening during the rise of the movement.
He has gone on to win financial settlements in about 200 police brutality cases. In March of 2021, the city of Minneapolis to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd鈥檚 family, which Crump at the time said is the largest pretrial civil rights lawsuit settlement ever.
鈥淚 keep hoping and believing, if we can make them pay multimillions of dollars every time they shoot a Black person in the back, that there will be less Black people shot in the back,鈥 Crump said. 鈥淭hat's my theory, but it remains unanswered because they keep killing us.鈥.
In recent years, Crump waded into the TV and film world. He had a brief role in the 2017 film 鈥淢arshall,鈥 which tells of the early life of his hero, who became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court justice.
His higher profile has brought more scrutiny and turned him into a frequent target. Conservative author Candace Owens in April accused Crump of trying to profit from police shootings and encouraging violent protests.
鈥淜eeping racial issues alive has become a business in America,鈥 she told Fox News Channel鈥檚 Laura Ingraham. 鈥淚t鈥檚 Al Sharpton yesterday, Jesse Jackson tomorrow, Ben Crump today.鈥
It doesn't really bother Crump: 鈥淵ou can't care what the enemies of equality think of you," he said. 鈥淚t would be the height of arrogance to think that everybody is going to love you. It's not a popularity contest."
It鈥檚 fitting that he is now mentioned among the giants of civil rights, said John Bowman, who has known him since Michael Brown's killing and has served as president of the St. Louis County NAACP.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 get in his head and say he charted out this course, and said, 鈥業鈥檓 going to be the next strongest voice for injustice,鈥欌 Bowman said. 鈥淚 do know that when the call was made, he didn鈥檛 shy away or step back from it.鈥
But Crump says he eventually would like to step back from it all.
鈥淚 literally pray for the day when I can close down the police brutality division of my law firm,鈥 he said, 鈥渂ecause I am so tired of seeing Black people killed by the police unjustifiably. I'd like to tell my staff that we no longer have to fight in the courts, or be counselors to so many grieving mothers and fathers.鈥
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Morrison reported from New York City. Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.
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Morrison is a member of AP's Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: . Also, follow Seewer on Twitter: .
