My mother told me that my late grandmother had scraps of food given to her to eat by the white family that she worked for as a domestic. The family thought it was proper for her to eat them. As a child, I couldn't figure out why so many African Americans were deemed as "criminals" or "savages" that only could participate in athletics or something else artistic (e.g. rap). Going through school, people were surprised I was so focused on academics. What they didn't know is that I didn't give in to the propaganda. I remember reading how "scientists" did skull studies and concluded that blacks were the least intelligent race. Watching the Jane Elliott experiment when the commentator reported that kids who were deemed as superior "always did better on their tests," made me think about how people attempt to condition society to think that African Americans are not qualified and unintelligent.

During my freshman year of college, a professor asked who was "most likely to be a criminal." I was the only black person in class. Someone responded and said, "William David." She said why and the student replied, "because he's black." I addressed her and later the class, but it pains me to see so many African Americans in prison. My constitutional law professor addressed this in class briefly with an Oklahoma Sterilization case in which a facially neutral statute attempted sterilize African Americans because they were "convicted" of certain crimes (e.g. stealing chickens). It was more evidence of Jim Crow laws, as this treatment of African Americans has been conditioned in this society.

When I became the first person in my family to graduate from college, I thought about how tough it was for me to do so. I thought about my aunts working in fast food and how proud they were of me (may have been the first in my extended family too - at least on my mother's side). My father has never contacted me since I was two. All I saw were child support checks. This behavior has been conditioned in society, as black males are not supposed to be family men.

During Teach for America, students called professional English "White English," and wanted to know why I didn't pursue the NFL or another professional league. I explained how it wasn't White English and why helping them receive the "right education" was more important to me than that.

My life is just an example of this conditioning. Native Americans have had it extremely rough too. I am upset that it is so engrained in society. Even some "civil rights leaders" perpetuate it. I refuse to be a House Negro, however, which is accepted because you are not challenging the system and are accepting the "inferiority" label. This Malcolm X speech discusses the topic poetically.

It's important that you see this too. Deep down although I am proud to be in law school, I realize that so many people never get this opportunity, and many people that do get this opportunity don't really use their law degree for social justice. I feel connected to all those who struggled before me and refuse to let them down. I came to law school to change unjust laws and to advocate for those that the law has turned its back on, not to perpetuate the injustice that the law has sanctioned.