In remarks made earlier this year, Cummings charged members of the legal profession with “taking on the continuing challenge of structural racism in our society – a challenge that we all know quite well. Addressing those historical, cultural and legal forces that divide some Americans from others is the work that each of us, as lawyers, undertakes every day,” he said.
YLD Chair Nicholas Austin said, “Elijah Cummings was one of my childhood heroes. Many of us grew up watching and admiring his tireless dedication to fighting for justice and civil rights. Rep. Cummings was a portrait of grace and dignity through the storm, and his passing makes me even more mindful of the fact that we cannot afford to be complacent with what we have achieved. Now is the time for young lawyers to take up the mantle to continue fighting for civil rights in this country.”
As we mourn the loss of this American hero and civil rights icon, members of the Young Lawyers Division are urged to recommit ourselves to taking up his fight – against police brutality, for education equity and for a more honest and just society overall.
