Spring 2025 Winner of the Biederman & Burleson Champions of Justice Scholarship

Cerenity Williams

Cerenity’s experience of having an incarcerated parent during her formative years has inspired her to want to become a criminal defense attorney. Congratulations, Cerenity, and we look forward to all of the amazing things you will accomplish!

Read her essay here:

2014

I was eight years old watching my father flash away before my eyes. It was fall, the sky was so sunny, but there was nothing to be happy about. My father was leaving me. In the car with my mom and dad patiently waiting patiently--for what I did not yet know, watching my mother cry and my father's eyes red as tomato. Eventually, the “thing” we were waiting for was there. There was no “thing”. It was a black van, with tinted windows to the point it looked like black paint. I knew at that point my dad was leaving me, but I had no clue as to why or for how long. I held on to my dads black mixed with brown leather jacket, begging him not to leave. Not only that, but I just could not figure out why my dad, the greatest man alive, was leaving me. “My dad would never leave me, he loves me.” I just kept thinking to myself. Wondering when the next time I would see my dad, or feel his touch and kisses on my forehead. This was the worst day of my life.

2014-2019

As time flew by, five years to be exact. Life was not how I imagined. From the age of eight to thirteen, I began to grow up without a father. I was just how any person would picture it. Getting in trouble, crying, mixed emotions. I wasn't who I wanted to be, and I'm pretty sure my dad didn't want me to be. I knew I could do better, but I just did not know how or even where to begin. My father would call me every day, and I would be so excited about those fifteen minute phone calls. I cannot even describe how those phone calls made my day. My dad was moved from one state to the next, nowhere near me… I saw him maybe 3 or 4 times throughout these years. Even still, it did not hit the same as my dad being at home with me. I missed everything about my father, even the small things he probably didn't think had an impact on me. For example, Valentine's Day. My dad used to surprise me at school with BIG teddy bears, balloons, candy, lunch. Anything in the world a girl could dream about. I missed it. I just wanted life to go back to how life was before.

2019-2021

COVID-19. Let’s talk about it. I hate it. This virus took my dad away from me, more than the feds did. Lockdown 24/7, 24 hours a day, no phone calls, no visits. I never got a happy birthday call, “Merry Christmas” text or anything. I am a daddy’s girl, so I never thought it was my dads fault and until this day, I never will. My dad can do no wrong in my eyes. Covid effectively deprived me of my father, and there was no recourse available to me or him.

2021

2021, the best year of my life. The year that changed me and the year I knew I was going to make a difference in the world for my father. February 2, 2021 , two cars full, my family and I drove all the way to Florida to pick my father up. He was finally free. I could go back to the little girl, the eight-year-old whose dad was taken away from her. She was the girl who waited for this moment, her whole life, at the time. Twelve hours later, after riding in the back seat of a cramped car, I was finally in the arms of my father. I cried, and cried, and cried. Happy tears, yet sad. At this point in life, I still wondered why, just why did it have to be this way? I was happy this year. I started High School, I turned sixteen, and my dad was there to see it all.

2021–Currently

During this time, I was a regular high school student. I had both parents in my life, and I had everything in life I thought was needed to be the best life. Until one day it just hit me, why do felons get treated so bad…not only that but an African American male felon. My dad gets treated like shit. Why? He did his time, and he is just trying to better his life as a father and as a grown man. Every place I go looks at my dad as a “drug dealer” or a “crime maker”. I've always seen my dad as my hero. He does everything in his power to give me and my siblings the world. Yet, people won't accept him at jobs, or allow him to even VOTE because he’s considered a felon in the world's eyes? He’s just trying to fit into the world, just like any other human being. When I put two and two together, I had to think about what could I do to make a difference for those in the future, who are “felons” but didn't even do it? They just did not have someone to fight for them hard enough. Between 138,000 and 354,200 people in the US may be wrongfully imprisoned at any given time . These attorneys fighting for people do not think about the effect of a father or mother leaving them can do on a child. I do. I am committed to fighting for children who deserve to have their parents in their lives. Which leads me to what this whole thing is about… Law . Seeing my dad leave me, and my siblings and what impact that had on us, and our family as individuals, made me realize what I wanted to do in life.

Overall

If the commander and chief can run the Country with current felonies, then citizens with felonies whom are not incarcerated should have the choice to vote. They should have the right to feel included and be welcomed to the world. I want to be a criminal defense attorney . Every night, I study in my dorm room, searching for ways to make a difference. I stay up hours and hours studying for that GPA to get into the best law schools. Keeping my grades up, making sure I have a good representation. To be the best attorney possible. The world is failing these children, they keep taking our parents away and wonder why the world is going downhill? I will give all my power to fight for those parents, who just want to be in their children's lives… I will fight how I wanted someone to fight for my dad.