From descendant of slaves to lawyer fighting for social justice with Antonio Ingram II, Senior Counsel at NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (Ep. 164)

 

Antonio L. Ingram II is Senior Counsel at the NAACP LDF. He is a graduate of Yale College and UC Berkeley School of Law.  He served as a law clerk for the honorable Ivan L. Lemelle in the Eastern District of Louisiana and for Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Antonio also completed a Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship in Malawi where he did anti-corruption work.

Talking to Antonio Ingram II, someone I met when he was a first year law student and I was the Director of Employer Outreach and Career Counselor, left me feeling inspired to focus on doing social justice work sustainably.

In this episode with Antonio, we discuss: 

• How his background growing up as a Black American in Oakland instills his passion for justice and drives his purpose to make the world better than what he inherited.

• Why as the descendants of slaves, he believes it’s important to clerk for two Black federal judges and change the laws that once held his ancestors in bondage to now protect marginalized communities.  

• What it felt like to be the only non-White law clerk out of 20 law clerks even when clerking in very diverse states, and why it’s important to diversify clerkships.  

• What we can do to improve the education system, and make public schools a place of integration and learning.  

• What you can do to have hope, especially during dark times like the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict, by focusing on the progress we’ve made.  

• How growing up poor makes us afraid of poverty and keeps us as indentured servants in corporate America, and what we can do to let go of that fear and focus on finding happiness.  

• How to overcome what seems like insurmountable obstacles by sustaining yourself with wonder and gratitude.  

• What we learn from Black men who were the first to go to high profile jobs like Goldman Sachs dying prematurely compared to their peers. 

• How to make the world a better place and not be a martyr and succumb to powers literally trying to take you out and force you to overwork yourself to prove yourself. 

• How completing a Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship in Malawi where he did anti-corruption work allowed him to get away from White Supremacy and grow in a way that was life empowering.  

• How to maintain perspective, and know that where you grow up and where you come from does not have to be your entire world, and your world can be boundless.

 

Want to connect with us?

• Connect with on Twitter @antonioingram and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonio-l-ingram-ii-esq-473b6930/.  

• Follow Samorn on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/samornselim/.

• Get a copy of Samorn’s book, “Belonging: Self Love Lessons From A Workaholic Depressed Insomniac Lawyer” at https://tinyurl.com/2dk5hr2f. 

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