Keisha Sutton-James

“I remember when my Grandfather first told me he had been arrested. I was his only grandchild, and
I grew up one floor below him in the same apartment building, so I spent a lot of time up under my grandparents. No question. Percy Sutton was a busy man. But he made time for everyone; and he most certainly made time for me, his “favorite grandchild.” I used to sit with him on the 1970s L-shaped sofa, feet up on the kidney bean-shaped glass coffee table, and he would share stories about this and that. We did multiplication drills. He told me stories about his older brothers and sisters and growing up
on a farm in San Antonio, TX. On this occasion, he told me he had been arrested. I have to be honest and say that I don’t recall what he had been arrested for—which protest that is. All I heard was “I was arrested.” I was bewildered. Why would my grandfather, who seemed like he had kept clear of the law, be arrested?

I had no idea what my grandfather did for a living. I didn’t know he was a highly respected businessman, politician, activist, and attorney. All I knew was that he looked like he didn’t get into trouble. Well, my grandfather got into what his friend, late Congressman John Lewis called “good trouble.” He was a Freedom Rider who was arrested in 1964,  and he was arrested numerous times throughout his life, including and all the way up to when he protested against the murder of Amadou Diallo, the Guinean immigrant who was shot 41 times and killed by police in 1999.

On that day when I sat and listened to him, Grandfather explained to me something new - that sometimes arrests are a good thing. I came to understand that getting arrested as part of civil disobedience is a powerful way to defy the power structures that oppress us and to lift up our plight.
I learned that he wasn’t fearless; rather, while defying the power structures, he also had to defy his own fears. He explained to me how terrified he was for some of these arrests, especially the Freedom Ride. But by sitting on that sofa and living to tell about it, he demonstrated that there is something powerful on the other side of that fear—the realization that courage can overpower fear. Most importantly, on that day, through telling me about being arrested, Grandfather was teaching an important lesson, one that perfectly encapsulated a quote from his masterful and brilliant client, Malcom X, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything."

Keisha Sutton-James is a consultant who works with clients in the political, media, activist and corporate diversity spaces.  Her work influences the next generation of elected officials, creators, activists and corporate citizens to ensure that the voices of people of color are represented in all of society’s corridors of power. She is currently producing PERCY100, a year of events and activations around the legacy of her grandfather, Percy Sutton and serving as campaign manager for Alvin Bragg, candidate for Manhattan DA.  She serves on several not-for-profit boards, including as Chair of the Alliance for Women in Media.