Civil rights attorney Ben Crump says N.C. ‘will always be home’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - He is known as an outspoken firebrand for taking on high-profile cases connected to violent police brutality such as the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

However, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump holds on to his deep Carolina roots.

“North Carolina will always be home no matter where I live at. I may get a home in Houston, Texas and I have one in the D.C. area. No matter where I’m living at, North Carolina will always be home,” he said.

Born 125 miles east of Charlotte in Lumberton and raised in public housing, Crump headlined the Equal Justice Now initiative at Salisbury’s Livingstone College, which is a campus that carries special meaning.

It is a place of learning where his father graduated in 1970. At Livingstone, Crump publicly joined forces with the family of 25-year-old Shanquella Robinson of Charlotte. She died while on a trip to Cabo, Mexico in October.

Robinson’s death was ruled a murder by Mexican authorities, but months later no one has been arrested in this case.

The Robinson case isn’t the only local issue on the radar of this N.C. native.

In the 2019 release of his book “Open Season,” Crump is among the critics of the state’s voter ID law saying it has the potential of rolling back decades of progress.

“Those who are most marginalized have to realize that America and the American dream is for them too,” Crump said about the controversial legislation.

Despite the critics of his unapologetic advocacy, Crump’s in-your-face style has earned him a label he takes seriously. He’s been called Black America’s Attorney General.

“I wear it humbly and responsibly because there are so many issues that plague Black America,” he said.

At age 53, Crump wants to make it clear regardless of his station in life, Tar Heel traditions remain a cherished part of his humanity.

“North Carolina will always be my foundation no matter how far I go,” he said. “North Carolina will always be the foundation.”

He says it’s a place that’s provided meaningful lessons in life’s formative years.

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