Martin returned to Matthews Arena on the Boston campus Friday to address the newest graduates of Northeastern’s School of Law.
Ralph C. Martin II was just 18 months old when his mother was murdered. He grew up during the turbulence of the 1960s, witnessing both the horrors of Bloody Sunday and the hope sparked by the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.
Yet, through all of it, Martin held on to something powerful: optimism.
That optimism helped carry him through college and then law school at Northeastern University, where he graduated in 1978.
It’s what propelled him through a trailblazing career as the first African American district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and later as senior vice president and general counsel at Northeastern.
On Friday, Martin returned to Matthews Arena on the Boston campus to address the newest graduates of Northeastern’s School of Law — and to pass that optimism forward.
“Today, if we are on our knees, we need to rise up and resist regressive efforts,” said Martin, now a partner at Prince Lobel Tye LLC. “And optimism serves as the fuel for a continued and successful campaign to recruit others to join in. As you enter the profession, I hope that you will find ways to join in this effort, even if it is in small ways.”
Martin’s remarks blended personal reflection with lessons from a distinguished legal career. Optimism, he emphasized, was not naive — it was earned and necessary.
“My optimism upon graduation was based on the recognition that I had, with a great deal of love and support, somehow defied the constraints of my family’s origins and roots and the difficult times of the 1960s,” he said.
Martin spoke of milestones that shaped his view — both heartbreaking and hopeful — from riots and assassinations to legislative triumphs and community resilience.
“But like most of the country, I pressed on and did go to college,” he said.
It was during that time he was introduced to the idea of becoming a prosecutor, thanks to Dick Lowe, an assistant district attorney in Manhattan.
“Dick Lowe spoke about the power, discretion and influence that smart and ethical prosecutors have, if they earn the trust of members of the community, judges, defense lawyers and cops,” Martin said. “And how prosecutors could influence what happened in a person’s life, on a city block — even an entire neighborhood.”
Martin saw firsthand how crime and indifference devastated poor and Black communities. He believed in the law’s power to restore faith and justice — and encouraged graduates to do the same.
Still, he acknowledged that today his optimism is “being challenged.”
“I hope we can all agree that a good part of why we are where we are is because people with opposing views stopped listening, negotiating and compromising with each other,” he said. “But we cannot let the enormity of the fight that we are in prevent us from seeing the human side of all constituencies — even the opposition.”
His message was clear: embrace humanity, embrace civility and take the responsibilities of the legal profession seriously.
“There is no profession better than ours to help promote faith and allegiance to the Constitution,” Martin said. “I hope that you will remember this as you enter the profession, as you forge alliances, and build community.”