Why do you want to go to law school?

I finally found this essay! One of the best things Anta ever wrote, I thought. Dated October 5, 1995, this was an essay answering the question “Why do you want to go to law school?” I remember she sent it to the University of Michigan – and helped win her a full scholarship.

Racism. It is an ageless, mindless monster that lies in the depths of our civilization, unwilling to die or release its grasp on our institutions and on our society. Once a visible, firebreathing creature that did not pretend to hide its intentions from the unseeing eyes of the public, it now has resigned itself to exist like a parasite that is neither audible nor visible yet incessantly feeds on the fears and ignorance of the majority. Brave ministers, determined commonfolk and strong children have given their souls, sweat, tears and oftentimes their very last breath to quell the fierceness of the beast and banish him to the silence of his present home. These advances have provided previously unknown opportunities and legal remedies to those upon whom the beast had released its fury. However, it is now the task of the children of today to root around in the heart of the foundations which support our society, find the parasite and remove its leech-like grasp from the lifeblood that continues to pulse through the veins of all who dominate.

Some choose to agitate. They yell. They scream. They cry “foul” at any instance that may have even the slightest hint of racist overtones. They never let the public forget that racism exists, and that it must stop in order for our society to function as it was intended; for “all men” to be “created equal.” They organize protests, they burn flags, they create legislation, and they bring lawsuits in order to right the wrongs done to them. They remind the majority that they can not, and will not, sit by and be denied what is duly owed to them. They use their voices to shout into the deep caverns that hold racism to day and tell it to let go, or else.

That is not my way. A valid way, but not mine. I believe in a more subtle method. I have become quiet, clever and insidious, much like racism itself. I do not appear to be threatening. I go to the same schools they do, I talk like they do, I walk like they do, I dress like they do, and I let them believe I think like they do . . . at first. Then, when they think they can “trust” me, I slowly educate them. I answer the questions they have always wanted to ask. I banish their sweeping generalizations with the power of truth. I contradict their foolish myths, and I challenge their irrational thoughts with logical reasoning. Little by little, I change the ignorance and fear that feeds the parasite into a knowledge that starves it. The creature then perishes and is released in the stool to be flushed away with the rest of the unusable debris. Even if it does not completely release its hold, but just weakens a little bit, I still enjoy a small victory. My victory is realized if the next person like me comes along, and, because of having known me, those I have touched give those who are like me one more second of consideration, one more thought, or one more chance. Maybe, they think, there are others like me who are “different” because generalizations do not really apply. Then my job is done. I move on. I keep on conquering that parasite, one host at a time.

But my work is not yet finished. I must also climb the ladders of our institutions. I must work my way into the upper echelon of the legal community which forms the law that binds our society. I must become one of those who shape the law, because it is the law that rules our land. When the laws change, it is a sign that our mores are changing. It is with these mores that we justify the law that gives us order. So I must climb. I must transform. In this way, the next time one like me is wronged, they do not have to look to someone who is not like them to represent them because I will be there. They will not have to look to someone who is not like them to judge them, because eventually, I will be there, too. I will join those who have preceded me, and there will be those who rise in our wake, and in time, young ones will have more like us to emulate and follow. They, too, will do more than sit and complain about how they are being “held back” and “kept down.” They will find, as I have, a way to creep, quietly yet determinedly, up the institutions of our society and change them, from the inside. They will use the poison of their words and of their deed to kill the parasite that feeds on us all. Someday, whether they look like me or not, those who head our institutions will truly be able to provide equal justice.

But that day has not yet come. So the shouters gotta keep on shoutin’, and the creepers gotta keep on creepin’, and through the power of the shouters and the creepers, the beast will, one day, fall prey to our doings.

That is why I want to go to law school.