‘Civil’ Trailer: Ben Crump Says He’s Using His Influence to Fight ‘Racism and Discrimination’

Civil Trailer (Credit: Netflix)

Ben Crump says he’s been given a platform and he’s using it to fight racism “wherever it rears its ugly head.”

The civil rights attorney is the subject of the new Netflix documentary Civil. On Friday, the streamer released the first trailer, which opens with Crump taking a call George Floyd’s cousin shortly after he was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

“America is a capitalistic society. The one thing that America understands is money,” Crump says in the trailer. “If you can make them pay higher values, they will stop killing Black people. It would be an impediment.”

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The attorney has also represented the families of Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, and 14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta, who was mistakenly killed by an LAPD officer in December 2021.

Crump says the fight for justice extends far beyond police killings.

“It’s not just fighting racism and discrimination in these police shooting cases, it’s fighting racism and discrimination wherever it rears its ugly head,” he explains.

Crump has also represented The National Black Farmers Association in a lawsuit to stop the sale of potentially cancer-causing pesticides. He’s shown in the trailer meeting with a desperate Black farmer.

“I have been given influence for a reason and shame on me if I don’t use that influence,” Crump says.

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Civil is produced by Kenya Barris, Roger Ross Williams and Lauren Cioffi. Emmy-nominated filmmaker Nadia Hallgren (Becoming) directed the film and is also a producer.

The documentary is set to premiere June 12, at the American Black Film Festival. It opens in select theaters on June 17 and begins streaming globally on Juneteenth (June 19) on Netflix.

Watch the trailer for Civil below.