No Free Speech Granted:
The Economic Sanctions of an HBCU
On May 5, 2026 a (community) Uncle of mine, who is a masterful experiential-based educator, sent me a video of Bryan Stevenson. Because the Brother Attorney is better known more for founding the Equal Rights Initiative and documenting the United States legacy of lynching than his courtroom victories, his story of a microaggression during his legal career may come as a surprise.
The Brother Attorney details a courtroom experience in the Mid-West. The judge reprimanded him for being inside the courtroom when defendants are required to stand in the hallway until allowed into chambers.
Stevenson felt instant anger to that disrespect!
Unfortunately, the Brother Attorney had to control his emotions and calmly explain to the white man, in a black robe, that he wasn’t any Black man living inside of the judge’s imagination but a Black lawyer representing one of the Black defendants standing obediently in the hallway. In response to this correction, the judge laughed and the white prosecutor joined him in awkward laughter.
