Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump will be MLK parade Grand Marshall

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- "I am very humbled to be named the grand marshal of the MLK parade in Los Angeles," says attorney Ben Crump who added it is truly an honor to be part of this historic event.

Crump has become a civil rights icon in the last few years. He's passionate about cases that he feels will impact society.

It all started when he was nine years old.

"It was just night and day," he says after he was bussed to a school literally across the tracks from his neighborhood and saw the facilities there were much better than the school in his own neighborhood.

"And I asked my mother why do they have it so good and we seem to have it so challenging and she said the reason you get to go to the new school with the new books and the new facilities is because of Brown VS. Board of Education and a lawyer named Thurgood Marshall."

"And I remember right there saying when I grow up I'm going to be a lawyer like Thurgood Marshall and make a difference where everybody has an equal opportunity at the American dream," says Crump.

He spent his childhood in Florida and received his law degree from Florida State University.

After starting his own law firm he soon worked on cases that made national and world headlines. Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and more.

"Whether we're fighting for Justice for George Floyd, or fighting for Justice for the citizens of Altadena. I understand that God has given me influence and shame on me if I don't use that influence," says Crump who is hoping to use that influence as he represents families who lost everything in the fires in Altadena.

"We're fighting to help these communities, especially these black people. This is all they had to leave their children. They didn't have stocks and bonds. They didn't have a trust fund. All they had was their house."

Crump was selected as the grand Marshall for this year's Martin Luther King Parade.

The Kingdom Day Parade is the world's Largest & Longest Running Life Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King.

This year the parade was postponed due to the fires. It was moved to February 17th. As Los Angeles recovers from this tragedy Crump hopes he can send a positive message.

"In many ways I want to use it as further encouragement to help rebuild repair and make sure we restore this beautiful part of Los Angeles, where we can celebrate not only the black culture, the Hispanic culture, Asian culture but everything that was Altadena, everything that was Palisades and Hollywood Hills. We're in this together."