Our Actions to Seek #JusticeforFloyd

As attorneys, we want to have answers and solutions to whatever problems we and our clients face. Not having an answer is wholly unsatisfying, and absolutely maddening.

We don’t have answers for the racism and injustice that plagues our society. Our hearts go out for the families and friends of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. And that list of names is much greater, and has encompassed far too many people over far too many years.

We don’t all share this pain equally. Much of our firm and our community will never know the difficulties of being black in America. We don’t share the same reality each day that a child, parent, brother, sister, friend or other loved one’s name may be added to the list of lives claimed by racism, injustice and intolerance. The COVID-19 pandemic makes these times even worse in that it disproportionately affects our communities of color.

This is a difficult time. The pain we feel is real, and awful, and can be debilitating. More than ever, now is a time to speak out. As Martin Luther King, Jr said in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” And, this is a time of great injustice in the United States.

We all must do our part. Our firm fights for justice through our Pro Bono efforts with organizations such as Cabrini Green Legal Aid and the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago. We will also make donations from our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee funds to support efforts by Color of Change and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund to further their efforts to ensure #JusticeforFloyd.

We don’t have the solution, but we will continue our fight.