"I don't pick and choose people according torace," Cochran said. "If I see injustice I gowhere that is."

Cochran's speech was followed by commentaryfrom Professor of Law Randall Kennedy. Kennedyalso spoke on the failings and potential forjustice in the American legal system, focusingheavily on the recent controversy surrounding thedisparity between sentences for crack possessionand cocaine possession.

However, despite slight differences in opinion,ultimately Cochran and Kennedy expressed the sameconcerns.

Both asserted that the causes of injustice layless in the legal system than in a society thatallows poor and minority communities to beneglected.

"We need to go...to the root causes ofcrime...Twice in my career in Los Angeles I haveseen the city go up in flames," Cochran said.

"Now that's hopelessness at it's worst--whenyou burn down your own community, when you don'thave a stake in anything. And we've got to getaway from that.

"It seems to me that liberals and conservativesshould understand [this] and do something aboutit," he added.

Cochran is the host of Cochran and Company onCourt TV as well as the author of the best-selling"Journey to Justice."

Cochran's address was sponsored by the IOP'sStudent Advisory Committee, the Black StudentsAssociation, Black Men's Forum, Harvard LawSchool's Black Students Association, the KennedySchool's Black Student Caucus, and the Associationof Black Radcliffe Women