Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Attorney Benjamin Crump (4th Appearance) Full Interview
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Today, people of color are winning. We're winning in entertainment,
- 0:04Speaker 1: we're winning in sports, we're winning in the financial world,
- 0:07Speaker 1: and then we're often winning in politics. But where people
- 0:10Speaker 1: of color are not winning is in the justice system.
- 0:14Speaker 1: That is the subject of my next guest in this
- 0:15Speaker 1: new book, Open Season. My next guest and I have
- 0:18Speaker 1: created and co produced television shows together. He is a
- 0:21Speaker 1: friend Little Brother, fraternity brother, and the founder and principal
- 0:25Speaker 1: owner of Ben Crump Law. He has been recognized in
- 0:29Speaker 1: National Trial Lawyers, Top one hundred Lawyers and Ebony magazine
- 0:32Speaker 1: Power one hundred Most Influential African Americans. He has represented
- 0:36Speaker 1: families in several high profiles civil right cases, including Trayvon
- 0:40Speaker 1: Martin and most recently, the black man who was shot
- 0:42Speaker 1: and killed when the Dallas police officer walked into the
- 0:46Speaker 1: wrong apartment and thinking it was hers, and she shot
- 0:49Speaker 1: him while he was sitting on the sofa eating ice cream.
- 0:52Speaker 1: My guest is on the show to talk about this
- 0:53Speaker 1: new book, Open Season, legalized genocide of colored people. Please
- 0:58Speaker 1: welcome the money making conversations again. Attorney Ben Trump. Good morning, Rashwan,
- 1:05Speaker 1: good morning, my friend, Good morning. I know you just
- 1:08Speaker 1: landed in New York is a big media run. Congratulations
- 1:12Speaker 1: on this book, man. I know how long you and
- 1:14Speaker 1: I have been talking about this book, probably two years
- 1:17Speaker 1: um rashand in this thing right, just been so long.
- 1:22Speaker 1: But I have to tell you publicly what I told
- 1:25Speaker 1: you privately. You know your goddess and direction with aspect
- 1:30Speaker 1: of this book. And just like when we did the
- 1:34Speaker 1: UH on some TV show Evidence of Innocence, I mean
- 1:39Speaker 1: the cover selection that variety of magazine is calling iconic
- 1:44Speaker 1: from the title of the content. You know every time
- 1:48Speaker 1: I would UH being air to advise and counsel that
- 1:51Speaker 1: you always gave me prolistic advice and for that they're
- 1:56Speaker 1: the fact that the book is the number one uh
- 2:00Speaker 1: so book on Amazon for pre orders is UH really
- 2:05Speaker 1: a testament to a lot of your counsel and advice.
- 2:08Speaker 1: And I always thank you for that, brother, And so
- 2:12Speaker 1: this is an exciting week. Just know your voice is
- 2:16Speaker 1: in my ear as I go through all these interviews.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Thank you well, you know it's great. I thank you
- 2:20Speaker 1: for the compliment, and I thank you for being the
- 2:22Speaker 1: person that you are. In reading the book, my whole
- 2:25Speaker 1: thought was that this is one of many now because
- 2:28Speaker 1: I heard your voice, I heard your passion, and I
- 2:31Speaker 1: heard your concern as to why this book and many
- 2:35Speaker 1: books that you're going to write in the preview two
- 2:37Speaker 1: in the future gonna provide us with knowledge because so
- 2:40Speaker 1: much information is being hidden in the justice system, and
- 2:43Speaker 1: this book, you know, open season legals, legalized genus, ode
- 2:47Speaker 1: of color people. It's kind of like the first stage
- 2:50Speaker 1: of getting that information out to us correct certainly and tragically, Rashine.
- 2:56Speaker 1: It's almost as if the book stays relevant no matter
- 3:01Speaker 1: what we do. UH. As we're speaking this morning, you know,
- 3:05Speaker 1: America is learning another name of a hashtag victim uh
- 3:10Speaker 1: a Tiana Jefferson. The black lady in our house, UH
- 3:15Speaker 1: taken care of her eight year nephew. The cops shoots
- 3:18Speaker 1: since out of the house and kills her. Very similar
- 3:20Speaker 1: to both of them. John case where the white police
- 3:23Speaker 1: woman comes into his apartment while he's minding his business
- 3:27Speaker 1: doing everything he has the legal right to do. She
- 3:30Speaker 1: allegedly thinks is her apartment, shoots and kills him. UH
- 3:35Speaker 1: And and thank god, UH that was a historic case
- 3:39Speaker 1: because it was the first time a white police woman
- 3:41Speaker 1: has ever been convicted of murder for killing a black
- 3:46Speaker 1: UH person in the United States. But with all of
- 3:50Speaker 1: that there, it still remains that the law, the law
- 3:55Speaker 1: has suffer shine. And that's what we talk about a
- 3:57Speaker 1: lot in this book. How whether is on the streets,
- 4:01Speaker 1: are in the courtroom that law that is supposed to
- 4:04Speaker 1: protect us, they're using it to kill us. And this
- 4:08Speaker 1: is a continuation of what was done seventy years ago
- 4:13Speaker 1: when the Great Paul Robeson and W. B. Du Boi
- 4:17Speaker 1: and other black leaders went to the United Nations and saying,
- 4:21Speaker 1: wach yours genocide for how you're killing black people in America.
- 4:25Speaker 1: And it is then proliferated by the law. Right. You know,
- 4:29Speaker 1: an interesting thing about let's stay on the Dallas case
- 4:32Speaker 1: with the Dallas police officer, because you and I were
- 4:35Speaker 1: texting doing that trial and texting afterwards, and I saw
- 4:39Speaker 1: you seeing and after the trial and the hug that
- 4:43Speaker 1: was seen around the world doing that Dallars trial when
- 4:46Speaker 1: he when his brother left to stand and hugged her. Um,
- 4:50Speaker 1: your your thoughts on that, and then because my and
- 4:52Speaker 1: I share my thoughts on that about that hug. Okay, well,
- 4:57Speaker 1: it is important to know Rashaan the backstory of this
- 5:02Speaker 1: brant who was both from his younger brother, Uh was
- 5:07Speaker 1: only sixteen years old when his brother was killed. I
- 5:11Speaker 1: mean this is the person who he slept in the
- 5:14Speaker 1: bed with as a toppler of the person who was
- 5:16Speaker 1: his hero. Um. And so when she killed his brother,
- 5:21Speaker 1: I mean, he went through all counter issues. He was angry,
- 5:26Speaker 1: he hated her. I mean, he just he wanted to
- 5:31Speaker 1: harm her when it happened because she took his hero. Uh,
- 5:36Speaker 1: he dropped out of high school, he pressed the holes
- 5:39Speaker 1: in the wall. His mother and father had uh give
- 5:43Speaker 1: him some serious counselor because as they said, they are Christians, Brandon,
- 5:48Speaker 1: this isn't our way to give way to hating. You
- 5:51Speaker 1: can't take this hate with you throughout your whole life.
- 5:54Speaker 1: So when you saw him in that courtroom on that
- 5:58Speaker 1: uh they to thick the impact statement. It was over
- 6:02Speaker 1: a year of him going through a whole range of emotions,
- 6:07Speaker 1: but he finally got to that point and uh, you know,
- 6:11Speaker 1: he didn't know that the cameras were running. He thought
- 6:13Speaker 1: that was just between him and her. And so that's
- 6:18Speaker 1: the back story of it. So people before they start
- 6:22Speaker 1: to form opinions of about uh, you know, he shouldn't
- 6:27Speaker 1: forgive to kill of his uh brother, where they need
- 6:30Speaker 1: to understand what kind of familist is. This is a
- 6:33Speaker 1: godly Christian family, and that this young man has since
- 6:36Speaker 1: through it all and don't judge him for how he's
- 6:41Speaker 1: grieving it. You know, it's really interesting because of the
- 6:43Speaker 1: fact that you know, African Americans are people of color,
- 6:46Speaker 1: even though we share the same religious beliefs, are often
- 6:49Speaker 1: seen as heathens. Seen this volunteer, I thought that was
- 6:53Speaker 1: a monumental moment for for all people to show that
- 6:57Speaker 1: there's even at this level, there's forgiven this and whether
- 7:00Speaker 1: he knew the cameras were running or not, the moment
- 7:04Speaker 1: that we can't forgive. The only thing I was kind
- 7:06Speaker 1: of taken aback, which when the judge hugged her, I
- 7:09Speaker 1: didn't understand that. You know that nobody undersaid that why
- 7:15Speaker 1: the sailor was happen here. Yeah, and nobody has seen
- 7:21Speaker 1: them get that kind of consideration or affection to a
- 7:26Speaker 1: convicted murderer who is black. In fact, it's the opposite.
- 7:31Speaker 1: They won't even let the family right. You know when
- 7:34Speaker 1: I still say there was an amazing case from a
- 7:37Speaker 1: standpoint of gaining some type of victory because so many
- 7:41Speaker 1: people we were were captivated by her personality by her
- 7:46Speaker 1: being young, by her being you know, you know, she
- 7:49Speaker 1: just young. She just made a mistake. You know, a
- 7:52Speaker 1: lot of people are trying to trivialize the severity of
- 7:55Speaker 1: what she had done, you know, and the fact that
- 7:57Speaker 1: you guys came back with a guilty victory guilty victory
- 8:01Speaker 1: verdict is really uh awesome in the sense that justice
- 8:05Speaker 1: was served properly. When I say the word awesome, yea yeah,
- 8:08Speaker 1: because first time, most people had predicted that she was
- 8:12Speaker 1: gonna get off. I mean, all the talking heads on
- 8:16Speaker 1: the the Legal Correspondent shows, they just said, nah, she's
- 8:21Speaker 1: gonna get way with it, because obviously she didn't mean
- 8:27Speaker 1: to do it. And the only thing I would say
- 8:30Speaker 1: was to argue in the open season it's about equal
- 8:34Speaker 1: justice under the law, that the facts would have been
- 8:36Speaker 1: reversed and both of them would have went to the
- 8:39Speaker 1: wrong apartment and shout and kill and mcgager. Nobody will
- 8:43Speaker 1: be saying give him the benefit of the doubt of
- 8:46Speaker 1: the confederation. They would not only be saying he should
- 8:50Speaker 1: be convicted of murder, they would probably be arguing for
- 8:54Speaker 1: him to get the depth I'm talking to Ban Cropp,
- 8:57Speaker 1: attorney Bean Crop. His book is Open Seas Legalized Genocide
- 9:01Speaker 1: of Color People. When we get back, we're gonna get
- 9:02Speaker 1: in more detail hanging there for each story. Great information. Hi,
- 9:08Speaker 1: this Rashan McDonald. You're listening to money making conversation on
- 9:11Speaker 1: the phone as my guest attorney being Cromp. We're discussing
- 9:14Speaker 1: this new book, Open Season, the legal the legalized Genocide
- 9:17Speaker 1: of Colored People. Ben, What made you decide to use
- 9:20Speaker 1: the word genocide in the title. You know, it was
- 9:25Speaker 1: very deliberate because I wanted to explain to people that
- 9:31Speaker 1: it truly is an epidemic of how they are destroying
- 9:35Speaker 1: the lives of so many young people of color, whether
- 9:39Speaker 1: they're killing us with bullets or whether they're killing us
- 9:42Speaker 1: with the laws. Um. You know, the statistics and the
- 9:48Speaker 1: empirical data suggests Rashaan that one out of every five
- 9:53Speaker 1: black men in states like Florida and Tennessee are convicted feelings.
- 10:00Speaker 1: And they believe if this trend continues on out in
- 10:04Speaker 1: the next twenty five years, weren't out of every three
- 10:07Speaker 1: black men in America will be convicted Fellings. Now, what
- 10:11Speaker 1: happens when you are a convicted felling richean and it's
- 10:14Speaker 1: it's unbelievable when you think about the collateral consequences of
- 10:19Speaker 1: a convicted felon. Now, you know you always hear about
- 10:22Speaker 1: you can't vote, you can't serve on your duty, you
- 10:25Speaker 1: can't serve in the army. But it's far worse than that,
- 10:29Speaker 1: because everything that you thought you could do to try
- 10:34Speaker 1: to make a living legitimately, once you have that convicted
- 10:39Speaker 1: felon labor that you have to work for the rest
- 10:41Speaker 1: of your entire life. In the information age, it makes
- 10:45Speaker 1: it very daunting to be able to keep a roof
- 10:49Speaker 1: over the head of your family, to put food on
- 10:53Speaker 1: the table for your children. They keep the lights on.
- 10:56Speaker 1: If you want to be a teacher, you can't be
- 10:59Speaker 1: one when you got a convict the felling. You can't
- 11:02Speaker 1: get a certificate to be a nurse, or a real
- 11:05Speaker 1: estate agent or brick mason. You can't get the UH
- 11:09Speaker 1: certification to be even a ruticians. For the women who
- 11:15Speaker 1: have convicted felons UH on their record, you can't even
- 11:21Speaker 1: reshine in some states if you are a convicted felling
- 11:25Speaker 1: and you have served any time in prison, you can't
- 11:29Speaker 1: even get life insure. Since I almost like you the
- 11:32Speaker 1: living dead, they just haven't given you the death certificate.
- 11:35Speaker 1: You can't get a federal loan from the government to
- 11:39Speaker 1: go to college if you convict the failing. I mean,
- 11:42Speaker 1: who are getting these labors is our children, and so
- 11:45Speaker 1: they are being killed and they're killing them softly. They
- 11:49Speaker 1: don't even realized how they're using the law that is
- 11:52Speaker 1: supposed to protect them. Yeah, we're trying to make be
- 11:59Speaker 1: an edging changing five young people, but also for white people.
- 12:03Speaker 1: We want them to understand, just like Paul Roberson and W. P. D.
- 12:07Speaker 1: Waller saying, look at what you're doing to our future.
- 12:12Speaker 1: And if you don't, I don't want you to speculate,
- 12:15Speaker 1: to say, oh, we never knew, because with this book, man,
- 12:18Speaker 1: you can't say we didn't know. The question is what
- 12:21Speaker 1: are you gonna do about it after you have the knowledge?
- 12:25Speaker 1: And the book he's referencing is his book Open Season
- 12:28Speaker 1: Legali genocide of Colored People. And I want to say
- 12:30Speaker 1: when he says color people, he's talking about not only
- 12:33Speaker 1: just African Americans. He's talking about Native American, Hispanics, Muslims,
- 12:36Speaker 1: people of all color extractions, as well as the gay community. Uh,
- 12:41Speaker 1: it's really just let you know that this is a
- 12:43Speaker 1: bigger problem, not just an African American problem, and it's
- 12:47Speaker 1: just narrow Just on African Americans would have been a
- 12:49Speaker 1: mistake because the problem is bigger than just us. Correct absolutely,
- 12:54Speaker 1: Ran And when you talk about UH, the immigration issues,
- 12:59Speaker 1: when you talk about the environmental racism, when you talk
- 13:03Speaker 1: about the education of inequality, when you talk about the
- 13:08Speaker 1: voter suppression, I mean, and these not only affect Black people,
- 13:13Speaker 1: but oftentimes they seek to marginalize and disenfranchise many of
- 13:19Speaker 1: the minority communities in America and as well as the
- 13:23Speaker 1: LGBTQ community, because a lot of laws that we talked
- 13:27Speaker 1: about are focusing on this enfranchise and them as well.
- 13:33Speaker 1: And we make it a vivid point about how police
- 13:38Speaker 1: are killing black trans UH individuals, and I mean it
- 13:43Speaker 1: is alowment the statistics that how they're being killed. And
- 13:47Speaker 1: what is more alowment, Rashon is how little the police
- 13:52Speaker 1: are being held accountable. As you know, it's really interesting
- 13:55Speaker 1: in reading the book, I felt like um and I
- 13:58Speaker 1: felt like I've reading the history book. I was fel
- 14:00Speaker 1: like I'll read something current. I fell like I was
- 14:02Speaker 1: looking at possibly my future or the future of America.
- 14:06Speaker 1: And it's it's really a great book to read because
- 14:08Speaker 1: of the fact that I think at any level, high
- 14:10Speaker 1: school level, definitely, a college level is definitely a book
- 14:13Speaker 1: should be part of a sociology curriculum. And sociology changed
- 14:17Speaker 1: my life in college, and this is a book about
- 14:20Speaker 1: that that that that part of how life is being
- 14:22Speaker 1: structured for people of color, and it's really important. So
- 14:26Speaker 1: I'm just letting you know that the book from beginning
- 14:28Speaker 1: to the end, you know, starting with the introduction and
- 14:31Speaker 1: and all the way to the end, with the twelve
- 14:33Speaker 1: points that you set aside, that that could be you know,
- 14:36Speaker 1: transformative to America if they took hold of these twelve
- 14:39Speaker 1: points that you're talking about in writing the overall concept.
- 14:43Speaker 1: I want to tell you this, Please put this in
- 14:45Speaker 1: audio form. Are you gonna put this book on audio?
- 14:49Speaker 1: It is, yes, Harper Collins has an audio book that
- 14:53Speaker 1: you can purch yourself, so and listen while you're in
- 14:56Speaker 1: the car on the plane. I'll tell you because it's
- 14:58Speaker 1: even more impactful because I've seen Ben from speak over
- 15:03Speaker 1: the years, and uh, he's he's he's really rivety when
- 15:07Speaker 1: he gets on the role out there. You know, I
- 15:09Speaker 1: your articulation and your ability to do it to command
- 15:12Speaker 1: and stages just watching that growth has been pretty amazing
- 15:15Speaker 1: to me over the years. I know, as an individual,
- 15:18Speaker 1: you were thrust out into the public's eye with Trayvon
- 15:21Speaker 1: Martin's case, and you've done your homework to be able
- 15:23Speaker 1: to understand your role and how do you have to
- 15:25Speaker 1: present yourself. That was part of your growth too, as
- 15:28Speaker 1: well as leading up to this book. Correct, absolutely, and
- 15:32Speaker 1: you have a lot with that rest. I mean, it
- 15:36Speaker 1: was a journey and I'm a country bar from North Carolina.
- 15:40Speaker 1: And then when you're put on the stage and arguably
- 15:44Speaker 1: the most recognizable civil rights lawyer in America, then you
- 15:49Speaker 1: have to definitely grow into that role and you have
- 15:53Speaker 1: to work on it every day and trying to improve
- 15:55Speaker 1: on it every dingy, just like you often talk about
- 15:58Speaker 1: our money making comfort stations, is a continuous growth. You're
- 16:02Speaker 1: always learning, and so whether it's in the courtroom or
- 16:06Speaker 1: whether I'm advocating on TV, I'm always trying to learn
- 16:10Speaker 1: how to make sure it with being effective as a
- 16:12Speaker 1: trial lawyer. That's what we're doing courtrooms every day. You
- 16:16Speaker 1: you work to communicate with people. You don't want to
- 16:20Speaker 1: talk over them, you don't want to talk a lot them.
- 16:22Speaker 1: You want to talk to them, and in doing so
- 16:26Speaker 1: you try to find out what are the things that
- 16:29Speaker 1: have been expected from the past, and then how do
- 16:32Speaker 1: I make them better? And that was an exercise that
- 16:36Speaker 1: I really tried to deal with the book because that
- 16:39Speaker 1: I've reread it and reread it. I tried to listen
- 16:42Speaker 1: to say, now, what about this uh, white person in
- 16:46Speaker 1: suburber America. How do I illustrate the point to them
- 16:49Speaker 1: that this is an American issue and that they also
- 16:54Speaker 1: should be concerned with how the law is killing black people. Um,
- 16:59Speaker 1: that was the the real important challenge, and I think
- 17:02Speaker 1: we tried to do it. I pointed out a big
- 17:05Speaker 1: thing about to many people in America, it is the government.
- 17:09Speaker 1: The police represent the government. It's the most visual form
- 17:13Speaker 1: that have in action with everyday citizens. And so if
- 17:18Speaker 1: the policy is to let police kill black and brown people,
- 17:22Speaker 1: then essentially that's the government killing black and brown people.
- 17:26Speaker 1: And that is the exact case that was argued to
- 17:28Speaker 1: the United Nations. So what I bos see as this
- 17:32Speaker 1: book gains more attention and awareness is taking a lot
- 17:35Speaker 1: of the families back over to Switzerland at the United
- 17:40Speaker 1: Nations uh Convention in Geneva and making the case again
- 17:45Speaker 1: that we charge generouside based just on the laws and
- 17:50Speaker 1: the statistics. Don't take our word for it. You tell
- 17:53Speaker 1: us anywhere in this book where it isn't true what
- 17:57Speaker 1: you're doing to black and brown people. You know the
- 17:59Speaker 1: rent amazing thing. We're talking to attorney civil rights attorney
- 18:03Speaker 1: Being Crop. His book Open Seasons, what you can go
- 18:05Speaker 1: to Amazon right now in pre order is the number
- 18:08Speaker 1: one book in pre order right now on Amazon. The
- 18:10Speaker 1: book will hit the stores of the airports, all the
- 18:14Speaker 1: Bonds and Nobles. If physically you can go by the
- 18:16Speaker 1: book this week. The book is called Open Seasons, That
- 18:18Speaker 1: legalized then the side of color people. I know my
- 18:22Speaker 1: social mediaill be blowing up, blowing up there. If you
- 18:24Speaker 1: come to at Rashwan McDonald, you will see of Being
- 18:27Speaker 1: Crop post about his book because it's a special book.
- 18:30Speaker 1: It's a book about the information, the book about education.
- 18:32Speaker 1: It's a book about telling you what you need to
- 18:34Speaker 1: know because you don't know. And I think that you
- 18:37Speaker 1: did a fantastic job and not making um white people
- 18:41Speaker 1: feel guilty or make them feel insecure, make them feel afraid.
- 18:44Speaker 1: You're just staying facts. The facts is that you continue
- 18:47Speaker 1: the direction you're taking away. People can pay taxes. People
- 18:50Speaker 1: can build this country. People can make this country better.
- 18:53Speaker 1: People can make America better. Of being incarcerated wrongfully. And
- 18:57Speaker 1: when they're being incarcerated, they can't even live a life.
- 19:01Speaker 1: They can an advantageous life to anybody. So all right,
- 19:05Speaker 1: all I can say, Ben, I want to continually push
- 19:07Speaker 1: your show. Thank you for taking the time to come
- 19:09Speaker 1: on the show. You know this a big week for
- 19:11Speaker 1: your book. I know I'm one of many interviews you're
- 19:13Speaker 1: gonna do this week. Ricky's Milett deal you Loue, Steve Harvard,
- 19:16Speaker 1: gayl Kean. But I got your first, brother. I'm happy
- 19:21Speaker 1: you got the first. So I will be with Sunny
- 19:27Speaker 1: Huston at the stram uh and Broadway. They said the
- 19:32Speaker 1: largest book store in America. And then I go to
- 19:34Speaker 1: Gaya Kane to Breakfast Club and we hit them all.
- 19:37Speaker 1: I think Bill Maher, it's set uh for a taping
- 19:41Speaker 1: on HBO. Thank open season of the book that we
- 19:46Speaker 1: need to be in America. I appreciate your brother, good
- 19:49Speaker 1: luck man. Thank you