Bar Unity March

By SHAYLA NICOLE PURIFOY, 2020 President of the Ben F. Jones Chapter of the National Bar Association

As you approach the jury room in Giles County, Tennessee, you may notice the entrance door decorated with the words, “United Daughters of the Confederacy,” complete with the United Daughters of the Confederacy emblem. Inside the jury room, there is an original Confederate flag and a portrait of Jefferson Davis (slave owner and President of the Confederacy during the Civil War), among other relics. This jury room sits on August 14, 2020—not 1865 nor 1968—as a reminder that at one point in time the subjugation, dehumanization, and debasement of an entire race of people was tolerated and legal. Giles County is also infamous for the formation, in a law office in 1865, of the first chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, of which Nathan Bedford Forrest was its first Grand Wizard. Just a few hours from Giles County, statues of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis stood in Memphis until 2017, when attorneys Van Turner and Bruce McMullen successfully had them removed. We all have stories—some from family oral history, some from childhood, some from college and some from now.

The Ben F. Jones Chapter of the National Bar Association started informally in 1960 to “gather legal knowledge and create a sense of community and camaraderie among the small number of AfricanAmerican attorneys in Shelby County at that time.” Initially, the group started as informal mentorship meetings by the Honorable H.T. Lockard, James Estes, S.A. Wilbun, Ben F. Jones and Rev. Dr. Benjamin Hooks —“the first five.” These five luminaries gathered because African American attorneys in Memphis were not welcome to join the local bar association, which was segregated, at the time. African American lawyers experienced heightened scrutiny while practicing in court. It was common for some attorneys and judges to refer to African American attorneys by their first name rather than giving them proper respect of last names. Some may think these things happened light years ago, but this ill treatment toward African Americans was the norm just over 50 years ago. And as a poignant reminder that racial progress has its ebbs and flows, the jury room in Giles County remains the same in 2020.

Faced with a new civil rights movement in 2020, we have a choice to make. We may follow in the footsteps of the “first five,” or we may be silent. We, as attorneys and judges, have an ethical obligation to ensure that our legal system provides justice for all and that our officers of the court promote equality within the bar and outside of it. Our community cannot have confidence in the legal system if we are silent. We may take direction from the Tennessee Supreme Court: “[r]acism still exists and has no place in our society. Upon entering service in the judiciary, we swore to uphold the constitutions of the State of Tennessee and the United States. Thus, it is our moral obligation and our sworn duty to ensure that the people of Tennessee receive equal protection of its laws. Justice must be for all.”

When the Ben F. Jones Chapter held our board retreat at ALSAC/St. Jude, in early January 2020 (post

early morning windstorm), we brainstormed ideas for the year ahead. We planned extensively—each meeting, event, and CLE had its proper place, time and date. Then, just like that, none of that planning mattered. One of our plans for the year was to unify all the bar associations and legal organizations in a unity summer social mixer in the courtyard of the Judge D’Army Bailey Courthouse. We were going to bring in a band, serve lots of food, and invite judges, law students and lawyers. The goal was to network, cross-promote our associations, and really bring everyone together. As MBA president Lucie Brackin and I promised at our joint Black History CLE in February, we were going to work together. Then came the unexpected—the pandemic. Although we would no longer plan an event where everyone smiled and exchanged pleasantries, we did not realize that we would have one of the most collaborative years of recent history, in the face of a pandemic.

Scared, confused, and exhausted by Covid-19, we knew we could not socialize together. Inspired by the new civil rights movement, the question became, what can we do? What if we march together instead of drink lemonade together? What if we show our community and our lawyers that we are committed to working together and that we believe a just legal system must also be against racism? And that is exactly what we did. In the middle of a pandemic, each and every one of us put on a mask and we unified against racism at the first ever Bar Unity March. Within about two weeks, the Ben F. Jones Chapter, the Memphis Bar Association, and Association for Women Attorneys all worked together to organize. The Young Lawyers’ Division of the MBA helped make signs and provided march monitors. We marched in the Memphis heat— not for hours like the freedom fighters who marched before us, but we marched nonetheless. Judges, lawyers, law students, and families marched together. Attorneys of all backgrounds— public defenders, prosecutors, employment lawyers, criminal defense, civil rights, and personal injury—all marched together. Some attorneys posted on social media in support (social distancing, but reaching even more people), some marched, some stood, some made signs, some kneeled. It was a collaborative effort. Some judges had moments of silence in court, some stepped outside the courthouse in support, others marched, and Juvenile Court released a statement—meant to be read on the courthouse steps as we marched by. We exchanged pleasantries, and we drank lots and lots of water. But most importantly, we marched together, and our footsteps marked our agreement and pathway to change.

On June 24, we made a choice to march and to work together until real change happens. Until the relics of the past no longer fly in our faces in spaces meant for all— parks, jury rooms, schools, and courthouses—and until diversity and treating everyone with kindness and equality are the norms, we march together. There is unity in diversity and where people unite, justice may be achieved. As the Honorable Tennessee Supreme Court so eloquently quoted the State Seal of the Judiciary, “Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.”

And now we are in the middle of the next steps. The Ben F. Jones Chapter has convened a Legal Justice Task Force and will continue to work with the MBA to ensure our legal system and legal community provides justice for all. Our Chapter will continue to stay involved, encourage pro bono work and do what is needed to ensure that our legal system and community are just, equal and diverse. Our Chapter is tirelessly working via the Legal Justice Task Force (chaired by Latrena Ingram and Kimkeá Harris), community service/ pro bono non conviction expungement clinic efforts (under Amber Floyd’s leadership), voter protection (led by Van Turner), law student outreach and alliances to make sure we are all promoting fairness within the legal system and within our legal community. Join us at our virtual Barristers’ Ball, November 7, for A Night of Good Trouble: Honoring Our Freedom Fighters and Continuing the Pursuit for Justice (planning chair, Quinton Thompson). We are going to make it through this together and for the better. 