Charlayne Hunter-Gault (fourth from left), one of the namesakes of the Holmes-Hunter lecture, stands next to Justice Robert Benham (right), the 2020 Holmes-Hunter lecturer. Benham encouraged audience members to take a chance and do what is right even when it opposes the status quo. Photo by Grace Lang
Journalism I student Eliza Ingle details the presentation of the Hunter-Holmes lecture by Justice Robert Benham of the Georgia Supreme Court, and what the experience meant to her.
On Feb. 3, a group of Clarke Central High School Journalism I students and students from other Georgia high schools attended the Hunter-Holmes lecture at the University of Georgia Chapel, presented by Justice Robert Benham, who is the first African-American member of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Benham is from Cartersville, GA, and shared his own throes with racial injustice.
“Judges and attorneys put on the armor of law, to slay the dragon of injustice, so that freedom is preserved for all of our people,” Benham said.
Throughout the lecture, he reflected on his personal experiences and the experiences of those he defended in court. With fiery passion, Benham had a clear motive behind his work.
“I see a need to salvage a young person, rather than to punish a young person,” Benham said.
This lecture made me self-assess in many ways and forced me to come face-to-face with my privilege as a white person in America. While I can never begin to understand or experience the injustices that many people like Benham have faced, I can spend my time on this Earth advocating for those who need it most.
One specific example of the discrimination he faced really stuck with me; he spoke his father attempting to pay for tickets at an amusement park, when the clerk refused the money, calling them numerous racial slurs and saying, “We don’t want your kind in here.”
The simple reality that people of color were not allowed to go to any recreational facility haunts me and shook me to the core.
Throughout the lecture, Benham spoke feverishly about doing the right thing. Everyone knows what is right but the matter lies in who chooses to do it, and those who turn a blind eye are the weakest of all.
This served as an inspiration for me, as I’ve had a hard time deciding to do the right thing for others because it is often at a cost for me.
Justice Benham is living history of America’s racial injustices, and reached out and spoke to me through his passion.
After attending this event, I realized that I should spend my life bridging the divide between groups of people, instead of feeding into the conflict between those who are privileged and those who are not.
