The Practice (TV Series)

We the People (2003)

Viola Davis: Aisha Crenshaw

Quotes 

• Aisha Crenshaw : The observation posts are a joke. Those drug deals are captured on tape just as clearly as what I did, but the police don't respond. I doubt they even look at those tapes.

  Jimmy Berluti : Is crack a big problem in your neighborhood, Aisha?

  Aisha Crenshaw : Is it a big problem? My 2-year-old daughter was killed in a drive-by three years ago. I've seen my friends' children become dealers, addicts. My street has become Crack Lane, Mr. Berluti. It's almost impossible for a child to grow up in our neighborhood without it being shoved in his face. There are drive-by shootings, random killings, intentional killings, and at the root of it all are drugs: cocaine, crack. All being dealt openly and notoriously by Marcus Thayer and others. And the police do nothing.

  Judge Harrod : Counsel.

  Jimmy Berluti : So what happened that day?

  Aisha Crenshaw : What happened is I decided to do something to save the kids on our street. I decided to protect the lives that Marcus Thayer was so intent on destroying.

  Judge Harrod : Miss Crenshaw, as I have advised your counsel, I would advise you. "Defense of others" is not a justifiable theory...

  Aisha Crenshaw : It's justifiable to the parents who live in our neighborhood.

  Judge Harrod : Miss Crenshaw, I would instruct this jury not to accept self-defense or defense of others...

  Aisha Crenshaw : Why don't you instruct the mayor to instruct the police to clean up our streets?

  Judge Harrod : You have the right to present your testimony, but as you move forward...

  Aisha Crenshaw : These dealers are arrested over and over, and never do time. It has to stop.

• Aisha Crenshaw : [to Young]  Murder two?

  Eugene Young : It allows for the possibility of parole. We think you should take it.

  Aisha Crenshaw : What would my sentence be?

  Eugene Young : Life. But again, with murder one...

  Aisha Crenshaw : Forget it.

  Eugene Young : Aisha...

  Aisha Crenshaw : I said forget it.

  Eugene Young : I heard what you said. Listen to me, please. We have nothing. Our only hope, if you can even call it a hope is for a hung verdict. Our only chance to get that is to convince a juror to say, "To hell with the law."

  Aisha Crenshaw : Good. Get one to say that.

  Jimmy Berluti : If they come back guilty, which truthfully, how could they not? You get life, no parole.

  Eugene Young : There's no point in being a martyr.

  Aisha Crenshaw : [shakes her head]  I know you care. You care because we're all on the same side. Problem is with too many voices, you get noise. So let's speak with one voice. And since I'm the client, since I'm the one who's going to be sittin' in that prison cell, let's let the voice be mine. Jimmy, I want you to look those jurors in the eye and tell them that the law is wrong. Marcus Thayer had it coming. The law is wrong.

• Aisha Crenshaw : [during a press conference after being acquitted of murder]  Am I surprised? Yes. But I'm also heartened. The jury sent a message not just to me or the police, but to all of us. We need to take back our streets. The Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms to defend our homes, our streets. It's time that the good people start exercising that right to defend our children. We, the people, need to rise up. We need to put these dealers down before they take any more of our children. And it's not just in Boston. All over you hear about tax cuts. Well, it's service cuts. And it's the poor neighborhoods suffering these service cuts across this country. We need to rise up and do a job.