WEBVTT 00:06.840 --> 00:08.950 William Mary Law School is the first 00:08.950 --> 00:11.350 law school in the United States , and 00:11.350 --> 00:13.610 it's part of William and Mary , one of 00:13.610 --> 00:16.350 the oldest universities in the country . 00:17.040 --> 00:20.300 E was selected as the first black dean 00:20.310 --> 00:22.477 of this law school , and they've never 00:22.477 --> 00:24.699 had an African American servas , a dean 00:24.699 --> 00:26.366 of any of the schools at this 00:26.366 --> 00:28.532 university . I was raised by my father 00:28.532 --> 00:31.020 and my my grandfather , uh , to put 00:31.030 --> 00:33.740 excellence first , and it's about doing 00:33.740 --> 00:36.500 your best . So when I accomplish things , 00:36.510 --> 00:38.950 the focus that I want there to be , 00:38.950 --> 00:41.061 that this was an accomplishment based 00:41.061 --> 00:44.320 on merit . That's a sign of progress 00:44.330 --> 00:47.370 when you have instances like myself and 00:47.370 --> 00:50.140 others who breaking through barriers 00:50.150 --> 00:52.261 that gives people hope that there has 00:52.261 --> 00:54.428 been changed . We're a country where a 00:54.428 --> 00:56.539 significant part of our population is 00:56.840 --> 00:59.600 descendants of formerly enslaved people , 00:59.610 --> 01:01.666 including myself . That's part of my 01:01.666 --> 01:05.250 legacy . William and Mary was 01:05.260 --> 01:08.740 started in Williamsburg , which was 01:08.750 --> 01:11.220 founded in slavery , not too far from 01:11.220 --> 01:13.553 Jamestown , where the first slaves , uh , 01:13.553 --> 01:15.620 came to the United States . You have 01:15.630 --> 01:18.850 this university that had slave labor 01:20.940 --> 01:24.070 they never contemplated to have one of 01:24.070 --> 01:26.380 the descendants of the slaves become a 01:26.380 --> 01:28.550 leader of this institution . That's 01:28.550 --> 01:30.606 always been attention for me when we 01:30.606 --> 01:32.740 have an institution like William and 01:32.740 --> 01:35.640 Mary selecting a black dean for the 01:35.640 --> 01:39.190 first time alongside a situation where 01:39.190 --> 01:42.630 you have numerous members of the black 01:42.630 --> 01:46.110 community suffering in many ways we've 01:46.110 --> 01:49.840 come so far , but we have so far to 01:49.840 --> 01:51.951 go . They've definitely been a lot of 01:51.951 --> 01:55.720 highs and lows in 2020 . It's been the 01:55.730 --> 01:57.900 Rockets year I know I've lived in . 01:58.020 --> 01:59.964 It's heart wrenching , sometimes a 01:59.964 --> 02:02.580 black parent having to explain . How 02:02.580 --> 02:06.450 can this be ? I listen to 02:06.450 --> 02:08.561 my grandfather tell me the stories of 02:08.561 --> 02:11.020 what he went through , my father or my 02:11.020 --> 02:12.853 mother , both of them grew up in 02:12.853 --> 02:15.076 segregation , and they had to deal with 02:15.076 --> 02:17.242 indignities and disrespect that I just 02:17.242 --> 02:19.300 I just couldn't imagine . You can't 02:19.300 --> 02:22.560 deny that there has been progress , so 02:22.570 --> 02:25.280 I always like to start with . There has 02:25.280 --> 02:27.910 been great progress . My grandfather 02:27.910 --> 02:30.650 was a first in his field , being the 02:30.650 --> 02:32.650 first African American professor at 02:32.650 --> 02:36.040 Notre Dame . My father was the first 02:36.050 --> 02:38.380 African American federal judge in the 02:38.380 --> 02:41.020 state of Virginia , and both of those 02:41.020 --> 02:42.964 things were achieved through their 02:42.964 --> 02:46.170 merit and their hard work , and I've 02:46.170 --> 02:49.060 done the same thing . Benjamin is 02:49.070 --> 02:52.950 absolutely the epitome of his ancestors 02:52.950 --> 02:56.670 dreams . He's the perfect person for 02:56.670 --> 02:59.850 this position , and then he's a black 02:59.860 --> 03:03.070 man . He's excellent at everything he 03:03.070 --> 03:05.600 does . He's not gonna do anything 03:05.600 --> 03:09.380 halfway . Pretty good . His best . He's 03:09.380 --> 03:11.491 gonna do the best . We say it all the 03:11.491 --> 03:14.160 time to the kids . You do your best . 03:14.540 --> 03:17.140 We expect excellence because you come 03:17.140 --> 03:19.900 from excellence . You owe it to your 03:19.900 --> 03:23.030 ancestors . I have a long legacy of 03:23.040 --> 03:25.760 Army service . I'm 1/4 generation 03:26.140 --> 03:29.860 person who has served in the Army . My 03:29.860 --> 03:33.250 great grandfather was in the Army 03:33.250 --> 03:36.010 during World War One . His son , my 03:36.010 --> 03:39.410 grandfather , was in the Army and 03:39.410 --> 03:42.040 fought in World War two . Then my 03:42.050 --> 03:45.330 father , he was in the Army and he was 03:45.330 --> 03:47.441 in the JAG corps . This commitment to 03:47.441 --> 03:49.630 selfless services , how I was raised 03:49.640 --> 03:52.150 and the examples that I had around me 03:53.140 --> 03:55.470 for the Army Reserve . I worked for the 03:55.480 --> 03:57.591 government Appellate Division . As an 03:57.591 --> 04:00.040 appellate attorney , I represent the 04:00.050 --> 04:03.280 Army in criminal appeals . The motto of 04:03.280 --> 04:05.560 the Jack cores soldiers first lawyers 04:05.560 --> 04:08.360 Always . What's great about the reserve 04:09.140 --> 04:12.020 is that it augments the operational 04:12.030 --> 04:15.060 army with people who are bringing 04:15.060 --> 04:18.480 experience from outside of the military 04:18.480 --> 04:20.591 and from their civilian jobs and from 04:20.591 --> 04:24.290 all walks of life in 2015 is when I 04:24.290 --> 04:26.630 swore in , I was dramatically over the 04:26.630 --> 04:30.160 weight and had to spend time exercising . 04:30.160 --> 04:32.216 Took me about a year and a half , 18 04:32.216 --> 04:34.271 months . Thio lose the weight and to 04:34.271 --> 04:37.350 get in shape , I had Thio go through 04:38.040 --> 04:40.510 the direct commission course , the vast 04:40.510 --> 04:42.621 majority . These people were 24 or 25 04:42.621 --> 04:44.660 years old . They had just graduated 04:44.660 --> 04:46.910 from law school . And you know this ? 04:46.920 --> 04:49.270 It sounds great . I'm a 41 year old man 04:49.280 --> 04:51.670 who's a tenured professor at University 04:51.670 --> 04:53.614 of Virginia . You've got all these 04:53.614 --> 04:55.614 young people running past you . You 04:55.614 --> 04:57.837 have to have that humility and I got it 04:57.837 --> 05:01.330 from the beginning . I'm 05:01.460 --> 05:05.380 more proud of how great a father he 05:05.380 --> 05:08.460 is , because you know , you're 05:11.140 --> 05:12.960 nine kids , 05:15.140 --> 05:16.807 but they all need to be loved 05:16.807 --> 05:18.696 differently . They all need to be 05:18.696 --> 05:20.751 appreciated differently . My primary 05:20.751 --> 05:23.790 responsibility is to provide for my 05:23.790 --> 05:26.340 Children and thio . Give them 05:26.350 --> 05:29.770 opportunities to give them a decent 05:29.770 --> 05:32.410 place to live , where they're not all 05:32.410 --> 05:34.521 nine of them . In one room where they 05:34.521 --> 05:36.700 have beds where they have warmth , 05:36.700 --> 05:40.420 where they have food my kids can look 05:40.420 --> 05:42.760 at my husband and see that they don't 05:42.760 --> 05:45.700 have any boundaries . They don't have 05:45.700 --> 05:49.530 any glass ceilings above them . I love 05:49.530 --> 05:52.760 that my Children have an example right 05:52.760 --> 05:56.570 in their own home of someone who has 05:56.570 --> 05:59.460 followed Thea American Dream Model , 06:00.140 --> 06:03.970 and they can do it . What is the 06:03.970 --> 06:06.750 meaning of life ? Why are we here if 06:06.750 --> 06:08.639 you're here and you're just doing 06:08.639 --> 06:11.160 things for yourself that z not what 06:11.160 --> 06:13.382 it's about , I don't know any other way 06:13.382 --> 06:16.700 to do it . I'm also focused on trying 06:16.700 --> 06:18.756 to improve the lives of the students 06:18.756 --> 06:22.110 that I'm here to support and the 06:22.110 --> 06:23.943 faculty members that I'm here to 06:23.943 --> 06:26.054 support as well as an administrator . 06:26.440 --> 06:28.880 Even as before , I became a dean as a 06:28.880 --> 06:30.824 professor , trying to make sure my 06:30.824 --> 06:32.880 students were learning and going out 06:32.880 --> 06:35.047 and getting fantastic jobs , trying to 06:35.047 --> 06:37.213 improve the legal system in a way that 06:37.213 --> 06:39.047 gave people who had their rights 06:39.047 --> 06:41.269 violated the ability to vindicate those 06:41.269 --> 06:43.324 rights through the judicial system , 06:43.324 --> 06:45.324 making sure the judicial system had 06:45.324 --> 06:47.380 rules that work for them , trying to 06:47.380 --> 06:49.491 serve the system and make it better . 06:49.491 --> 06:51.547 Service is always gonna be my little 06:51.547 --> 06:54.320 stuff , so that when someone comes back 06:54.320 --> 06:56.598 and says , Well , did you do your best ? 06:56.598 --> 06:58.820 I did more than my best . I didn't just 06:58.820 --> 07:00.820 try to do it halfway or just get it 07:00.820 --> 07:02.820 done . For me , excellence is about 07:04.540 --> 07:07.280 performing whatever duties you have 07:07.290 --> 07:09.346 better than it's ever been done . So 07:09.346 --> 07:11.360 excellence is about activating the 07:11.370 --> 07:12.850 excellence of those around you .