By Kisha A. Brown, Esq.
As Black people, we cannot experience the joy and peace of justice without building our own systems and institutions—designed by us, with our liberation, our lifestyle and our real needs in mind.
From churches doubling as schools to kitchens doubling as boardrooms, we have started from scratch and built up. We have also understood that survival without structure is temporary.
And so we built right here in Maryland:
Our Voice: The AFRO American Newspaper.
Our Money: Harbor Bank.
Our ThinkTank: Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle.
To name a few…
But let’s be honest, anything Black owned is often weakened by the sheer labor of holding everything together without adequate support.
Just like a house that holds anything worth protecting has to be solidly built with the right materials and receive consistent maintenance to withstand the weather and wear and tear of life, so do our systems and institutions.
One essential component is having legal guidance- not reserved for only times of trouble but consistently present at the table able to weigh in and offer critical legal insight as ideas, programming, plans and strategy are being devised.
Our Black led institutions have got to stop acting like they can handle everything on their own and just do the best they can. Without legal guidance you are one misstep from losing it all and that ripple effect impacts us all.
We need every Black lawyer on every board or in the backroom of every Black organization. It is our duty to step up and stand in the gap as the legal resource our community needs and deserves.
Law is already shaping our lives every day whether we acknowledge it or not—determining who owns, who inherits, who decides, who bears risk, and who reaps reward. Ignoring it does not make life neutral. Proactively engaging the law makes it useful.
Building infrastructure that fosters justice means weaving legal understanding into our movements, our businesses, our families, and our legacies. Examining it in real time. Revisiting it routinely. Ensuring it protects the fruits of our labor rather than siphoning them away.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.