Deksyos Damtew ’22 has been named one of ten 2024 Marshall-Motley Scholars. He has received a full scholarship to the law school of his choice, as well as access to internships and professional and career development opportunities.
“As a student at Colorado College, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in civil rights law,” says Damtew, a former CCSGA President and International Political Economy major who did his thesis on racial biases in investment in Africa. “My selection as a part of the fourth cohort of the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program makes this dream a reality. 的 support provided by this program is life-changing, and I am grateful — grateful to my family, 朋友, and mentors who were willing to walk with me through the application process, grateful to those who are eager to stay by my side as I start law school this fall, and grateful to the Legal Defense Fund for their confidence in my application.”
的 Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP) is a pipeline program of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and was created in 2021 with the goal of providing the South with the next generation of civil rights lawyers. 的 program was named in honor of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights attorney and founder of LDF, and former New York State Senator Constance Baker Motley, former LDF attorney and the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge.
MMSP awardees receive a full scholarship to law school, summer internship opportunities at national and regional civil rights organizations with offices in the South, a two-year postgraduate fellowship, and professional and career development opportunities, guidance, and mentorship. MMSP recipients commit to spending the first ten years of their practicing civil rights in service of Black communities located in the South.
Damtew will begin his law career in the fall at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he was also named a Henderson Center for Justice Scholar.
Damtew’s parents are immigrants from Ethiopia, and he first encountered racial injustice in the United States through hearing stories from his mother. Damtew has worked as a project assistant with the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, since last year, where he’s seen first-hand the reality of racism and racial violence. This experience has helped to cement his passion to work towards racial justice for Black communities in the South.
Last year, Damtew worked on the campaign trail for Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
While at CC, Damtew interned for Judge Maria T. Fox of the Colorado Court of Appeals and pushed for mental health supports on campus during the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent restrictions. Additionally, in 2021, Damtew and Ben Gellman ’22 were awarded a Davis Project for Peace grant for their project on facilitating civics education workshops for students in the pre-college program at Fort Lewis College.
Leave a comment