Litigators

A Look At The Heartbreaking Double Consciousness Needed To Lawyer While Black

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I briefly closed my eyes. In that split second, I considered my comfortable home life. My lucrative law practice. I imagined [my daughter] Tempest growing up and pursuing her dreams. I remembered that the odds were stacked against her. Her life would be full of potholes. She could be suspended from school for being disruptive. The school might even call the cops on her for speaking out of turn. That means her life could be sent into a tailspin—forced interaction with the criminal system for the rest of her life if she didn’t color within her own lines, quiet and obedient. Do I really want to be teaching my daughter to be silent and stay hidden? Yes. For her safety. No. Because we have to speak up. But what is life if you’re just surviving?

—An excerpt from the short story ‘Not Built for Us’ by Yvette Butler, winner of the ABA Journal’s seventh annual Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction.

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