We speak to civil rights lawyer Ben Crump about the ongoing epidemic of anti-Black police violence and impunity for law enforcement in the United States. Crump first comments on the sentencing of Brett Hankison, a former Louisville police officer who fired 10 bullets into Breonna Taylor’s home in 2020 during a botched raid, to 33 months in prison for use of excessive force. Although Hankison’s actions were “a violation of [Taylor’s] Fourth Amendment rights,” the Trump Justice Department had recommended only one day in prison for his sentencing. In court, “there was nobody advocating for Breonna,” says Crump.
We then discuss the announcement of no charges against the officers who assaulted William Anthony McNeil Jr., a Black man who was violently arrested and beaten during a traffic stop in Florida, as well as the death of 18-year-old Saniyah Cheatham in NYPD custody. Crump says, “For many minorities in America, it is a constant threat for us, especially Black people, this constant racial profiling.”
Finally, Crump continues to call for the public release of FBI files concerning the assassination of Malcolm X. If the government “wants to be transparent,” he says, referring to the release this year of files on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., “then they need to be consistent across the board.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! | Radio Free (2025-07-25T12:16:05+00:00) Ben Crump on Breonna Taylor, William McNeil, Saniyah Cheatham & Demand to Release Malcolm X Files. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/07/25/ben-crump-on-breonna-taylor-william-mcneil-saniyah-cheatham-demand-to-release-malcolm-x-files/
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