Meet Cayden Brown | Youth Justice Lawyer & Serial Changemaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cayden Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cayden, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
This movement, this space—it was all born through a 16-year-old boy from Detroit. That boy is me. After I was entrusted with the weighty responsibility of defending juveniles in court, an undeniable shift happened within me. It was a calling that urged me to share the force for change with other teens.

The Trespass Project is my humble offering to the earth. Rooted in the philosophy that “legal literacy equals liberation,” this empowerment is a crucial stepping stone towards true change. In many communities, especially among minority youth, there exists a chasm in understanding of legal concepts. That is by design. Our operation closes that gap. By increasing legal literacy, we are instilling agency to a group who has been intersectionally suppressed from birth.

Our mission goes beyond decrypting concepts; it’s about mobilizing our young to enter those “inaccessible” spaces with audacity.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I walk the path towards justice. Therefore, my steps are guided by those who came before me.

I’m in a constant state of education; being taught time and time again that, most times, when you identify an imbalance in anything you live through, you are most likely not the only person who notices that and wants it to be addressed. And that’s really what Trespass is really all about—taking those inner-convictions that we’ve been conditioned not to verbalize and amplifying them, to not only find community with those in the same struggle, but to also find a solution.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My home. That’s where my sacred thoughts and assignments from God find me. Anyone I call a friend deserves to experience that space.

But make no mistake, we’d be Downtown shortly after!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I believe that every single human I’ve encountered played a part in my journey. Even those who treated me poorly. However, I must offer credit to the army of people behind me. I wouldn’t be where I am without my parents and extensive familial support. From the legal aspect, Rita Soka and Alexandria Taylor of Taylor-Soka Law have also been an enormous blessing to me as well. When they didn’t have to, they took me under their wing and guided me through my first case.

As a social justice pioneer, I’ve had numerous admirable figures to draw inspiration from, although they’ve often been distant. I was on a consistent search for a voice that matched mine and I recognized it as soon as I heard it. Tezlyn Figaro, Ben Crump, and Sevonna Brown carry that voice. They’re the sources I turn to when I veer off course.

Website: thecaydenbrown.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecaydenbrown

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cayden-brown

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecaydenbrown

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecaydenbrown

Image Credits
Courtesy of Kim Brown Photography. Courtesy of Liana Garcia