Episode 453 — Why Precedent is the Enemy of Justice with Ben Crump
If you want justice to change, you cannot treat equality like a slogan. You have to fight for it like it is personal.
In this episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Michael Mogill sits down with Ben Crump, renowned civil rights attorney and founder of Ben Crump Law, to unpack what it really means to pursue equality inside a system shaped by power, precedent, and bias. Ben explains why progress is often incremental, why the biggest injustice is not always what makes the news, and why lawyers have a responsibility to speak truth to power even when it is unpopular. This conversation is a reminder that influence is only valuable when you use it to protect people who do not have any.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- Why racism and discrimination in America are rooted in economics, and how that shapes the fight for justice today
- How to handle death threats, public attacks, and the personal cost of taking on high-profile civil rights cases
- What it means to use your legal education to speak truth to power, even when it’s controversial, unpopular, or dangerous
If you have a legal education, you have a responsibility to make the world a better place. This episode will remind you why.
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Show Notes:
The fight for equality is incremental, but it’s progress nonetheless. “We’ve been fighting racism and discrimination in America from the inception of the country being founded. We’re going to continue to hold a mirror to America’s face to say we’re better than this America.”
Equality has to be tested in practice, not just recited as a concept. “We have to make America believe in the Declaration of Independence.”
Courage is part of the job, even when it is dangerous. “I was taught you speak truth to power even when it’s controversial or it’s unpopular or even when it’s dangerous.”
The justice system can destroy lives without anyone going viral. “Worse than how they kill George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, is how they kill young people of color, especially black people, in every city, in every state, in every courtroom every day in America with these trumped-up felony convictions based on bias, racism, and discrimination.”
Everyone has a role to play in the fight for justice. “You can’t call yourself a moral person and see evil and look the other way. Neutrality in the face of evil is choosing the side of evil.”
Connect with Michael
- Text directly at 404-531-7691
