by Abigail PestaWhen the allegations of abuse hit the news in 2016, he started gathering the troops at his law firm in Lansing, Michigan. He knew that sexual predators don’t stop with just one or two victims. He knew the minds of predators—he had defended some of them at his practice. And he knew Michigan State, where Nassar had served as a doctor; White had gone to both college and law school there.
White learned about crime and injustice from an early age. The biracial son of an African American father and an Irish American mother, he was six years old when he saw his father nearly get killed by a gang of men. He grew up in Jackson, Michigan, a small rust belt city once known for manufacturing some twenty brands of cars, and also corsets. “I grew up on the poor side of town,” he says. “It was a diverse neighborhood; I had friends from all different backgrounds.
White remembers the wise words of his grandfather from the time: “The best way to deal with racism is to buy the company.” In other words, get educated, become a success. White took that advice to heart, graduating from law school at Michigan State and starting his own practice in an attic of a small house he bought in Lansing.
He began strategizing. He connected with a state senator, Margaret O’Brien, who was working on a package of sexual abuse laws. They discussed adding two new pieces of legislation to the package—giving survivors more time to take legal action, and stripping government institutions of immunity in sexual abuse cases.
“It was a game of chess for months,” he says. “I’d come home and tell my wife, ‘Oh my god, I’m in checkmate.’”The bills made it to the state legislature, putting the heat on Michigan State. White kept tabs on the lawmakers to see which way the wind was blowing for the vote. It became clear that the bill expanding the statute of limitations would pass—but the bill stripping the university of immunity would not pass.