Transcript
What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. Moutaki Akbar, I'm an attorney and president of the NAACP Telehassy Branch. Telehassy growing up, I remember kind of the small town feel. We grew up, a lot of it was all of like Jim Lee Row area, Southside area. And then later on we were all for Lake Bradford. So always around the Southside, I consider it going to fam you because I was salutatorian of FAMU DRS. So I said, well, if it's free, maybe I can get my dad to get me a car. And he said, I don't want you to stay here. I think you will have a better experience if you leave. So I did go to Atlanta for undergrad at Morehouse College. And then I went to University of Miami for law school. I came back in 2007 and then the path to do criminal law. That was something that I kind of tried to run away from. But once again, I was just drawn to the injustices I felt that were in the system. Next year to be 20 years that I've been practicing. And I still can't get used to it. And I think the minute that I do, I need to quit. Walking into a courtroom and seeing nothing but black men and shackles and in the jail outfits from ages of 14, 15 that's getting direct foul all the way up. As long as I'm seeing that, and as long as I see that and get touched the same way, I think there's still work to do in this system. I think looking to the next generation. And so now has been my son and wanting him to live in a different world. I want to create a world that he is happy and that he can inspire and become whatever is that he wants to be and whatever environment that he's in. I'm Mutaqi Akbar. I'm an attorney and the father of Madhu. You're listening to voices that inspire.