On Behalf of the NBA Board of Governors:
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE
2020 LAW SCHOOL GRADUATES!
AMERICA AND THE NBA NEEDS YOU!
On May 17, 1954, the first African American U.S,
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, a former National Bar Association Treasurer,
and others stood on the steps of the United States Supreme Court celebrating an extraordinary legal victory.
See
picture above. He and other brilliant, courageous, determined, and unified lawyers secured
a landmark decision in the struggle for civil rights and racial desegregation.
On that day,
in
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
,
Kansas
, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the
United States Supreme Court held
unanimously that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," and therefore, violate the
Equal Protection Clause
of the
Fourteenth Amendment
of the
U.S. Constitution
. R
eferred to as
Brown I
,
the holding
was followed by t
he United States Supreme Court's second decision in
Brown II,
349
U.S.
294
(1955)
, which ordered states to desegregate "with all deliberate speed."
For over 65 years, Americans have celebrated May 17th as the day when the dam broke - or at least, the dam cracked.
Today, we celebrate
Brown
and other cases as the inspiration for countless African American and other lawyers. Regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, poverty, and discrimination, young lawyers dared to embrace a bold Houstonian vision of themselves on the steps of courthouses everywhere, celebrating victories in every type of case. Also, today we celebrate and salute
every 2020 Law School Graduate
. Your achievement is well-deserved. Your law degree is a lifetime mark of distinction that is of immeasurable value - and desperately needed.
In the midst of the the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, senseless murders of innocent African Americans and other persons of color, tribal politics,
ever-increasing inequality of all types,
and the undermining of our constitutional, democratic form of government, there is still much to do.
America and the NBA still need brilliant, courageous, determined, and unified lawyers to fight for
equal justice under law with all deliberate speed!
For this reason, we invite class of 2020 law school graduates to join the National Bar Association at no cost.
For over 95 years, the NBA has
spoken truth to power
, provided outstanding professional opportunities and networks. mentored, trained, and inspired young lawyers.
Please join the National Bar Association by visiting
www. national bar.org, register for the NBA Virtual Convention on July 25-29, 2020, and participate in ongoing webinars
.
Again, Congratulations 2020 Law School Graduates!
Be Safe, Healthy, and Counted by the Census,
Alfreda Robinson
President & CEO
National Bar Association
