The Role of Courageous Leaders in Advancing Racial Equity in the Criminal Legal System

When I reflect on the Black struggle for freedom and equity over the last four centuries in America, I see a common element in each history chapter: courageous leaders! A courageous leader is a person who is willing to take risks and is unwavering in their commitment to their cause. Throughout American history, we have witnessed the power of courageous leaders who are clear and bold in their convictions for racial justice and brave in their pursuit of it. Every movement in this country that has resulted in meaningful, positive change in the lives of marginalized communities is the product of individuals who operationalized their values of equity by daring to challenge the status quo.

If we awaken the courage within us, we can take America as it currently stands, full of systemic inequities that threaten the well-being of communities of color, to a nation where systems ensure racial equity. Leaders like Thurgood Marshall and Pauli Murray have modeled how we, as professionals in the legal arena, should advance racial equity within our organizations, in courtrooms, and in our communities.

Thurgood Marshall was a strategic civil rights attorney who took many risks in his relentless pursuit for racial justice in America. Before his appointment to the highest court in the nation, Marshall argued many cases before the court to chip away and delegitimize the doctrine of “separate but equal” segregation, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall, NAACP. As a counsel for the NAACP, Marshall regularly traveled across the South to take on cases that impacted Black people on issues ranging from segregation and voting to capital punishment. Tom McCarthy, Thurgood Marshall: Activist, Judge and the Story of His Quest for Racial Justice in America, The Guardian (Oct. 8, 2017).

Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Marshall’s initial work as a civil rights attorney taught us how to be courageous lawyers and fight for a radically different world. Thurgood Marshall was a Black man fighting for the marginalized while also being subject to the same discrimination he would argue against in the courtroom. He was regularly in hostile environments in and outside the courtroom and risked lynching and other racial terror of the South. These stories are rarely highlighted when we celebrate him as the first Black Supreme Court justice. But Marshall’s full story reminds us of the role of courageous leadership. He had a firm conviction for racial justice and was relentless in his fight to hold America to its constitutional promise of equality.

We, too, must exhibit the same courage to dismantle systems that oppress communities of color for a similar purpose. Like Marshall, we must show up in our organizations, courtrooms, policy tables, and communities to push forward systemic change despite discomfort or resistance. We must be unwavering in our mission to advance equity and overturn racially disparate policies and practices within our offices, laws, and institutions.

Our courageous pursuit of racial justice may not always land us national acclaim or recognition like Marshall, but that doesn’t make the work less important or urgent. Pauli Murray, a brilliant legal scholar, often overlooked in history, laid the legal foundation for the likes of Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As a Black queer legal scholar, Murray was a trailblazer in their own right. Pronouns & Pauli Murray, Pauli Murray Ctr. for Hist. & Soc. Just. Murray’s legal scholarship was instrumental in Marshall’s argument of the psychological impact of segregation in Brown v. Board of Education. Jane Crow & the Story of Pauli Murray, Smithsonian Nat’l Museum of Afr. Am. Hist. & Culture (Mar. 24, 2021). Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also credited Murray for constructing the innovative and audacious idea that the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause be applied to women. Olivia B. Waxman, In Previously Unseen Interview, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Shares How Legal Pioneer Pauli Murray Shaped Her Work on Sex Discrimination, Time (Oct. 16, 2020).

Murray coined the term “Jane Crow” and wrote about the intersectional oppression that Black women face due to their race and gender. Jane Crow, supra. Despite pushing forward groundbreaking ideas that advanced racial and gender equity, Murray does not get the recognition they deserve and is often overlooked in history books. And even as they were sharing their bold ideas then, Murray was often met with ridicule and questions, often because of their race and perceived gender identity.

Murray’s legacy offers many lessons to us as we work to advance racial equity in America. For starters, Murray teaches us to be audacious enough to dismantle oppressive systems at their root and to reimagine new systems that provide access and opportunity for all. Murray’s work should inspire all of us to be courageous enough to devise new ways of administering justice, safety, access, and opportunity. We don’t have to be bound to the existing systems; we can imagine and create new ones.

I also glean from Murray’s legacy that training plays a critical role in our current movement for racial equity. In many ways, Murray was ahead of their time in their analyses of and solutions to racial and gender oppression. To develop innovative and longstanding solutions to our current problems, we need to create the space to train and equip ourselves and our colleagues to think as creatively and boldly as Murray. We need to collaborate across sectors and translate our skills to drive systemic change.

The legal field has incredible power and opportunity to drive this country toward a more equitable future. And each of us within our distinct sphere of influence must be courageous enough to play our part in full. It’s only with courage that we can realize our values and convictions for racial equity.