Ben Crump champions justice for Black America, but his advocacy often draws ire | CNN

Ben Crump’s voice cut through the noise of a crowded convention hall like a thunderclap. “Justice for Nolan Wells,” the attorney shouted late last month as he marched into the room with his fist thrust defiantly into the air. The crowd echoed his call: “Justice for Nolan Wells.” As he made his way to the stage, Crump clasped the hand of Wells’ mother. In the weeks since her son died during a Fourth of July boating trip with friends, Christine Wells-Wonsley and her husband, Elmore, have become a fixture at the civil rights attorney’s side. But this time, as they stood before a crowded room of journalists, they were not alone. Crump was flanked by three sets of grieving Black families who have all lost their sons in recent months. The investigations into their children’s deaths have been fraught and flawed, they would later say. All three were 18 when they died. In all three cases, authorities have appeared to suggest their deaths were accidental. And, crucially, Crump told reporters, all three died in “questionable” circumstances, surrounded by their White peers. “We got to show that this is not a coincidence, that all these young 18-year-old Black men are endi

Aug 30, 2026 → Aug 31, 2026