Read on Twitter
I was challenged and troubled by @legally_lola's tweet yesterday. I rt'd it but was unsure what I could contribute or if I should be. I'd decided to try but was helped by @BarristerAbi's #antiracismchallenge tweet so here goes https://twitter.com/legally_lola/status/1267079348470927360
What has the fall out from George Floyd's killing has to do with English 'legal twitter'? More than you might first think. In the US and in England, the majority of race riots have been instrisincally linked with discrimination in the criminal justice system.
And the English criminal justice system DOES discriminate on racial grounds. @CrimeGirI cited some helpful statistics in this great thread earlier, as well as her first hand experiences https://twitter.com/CrimeGirI/status/1267367181450391558?s=20
But there's more. In US videos I've watched people keep repeating one thing: "we want prosecutions, and officer's sentenced". That's not just a US problem....
BAME people die as a result of restraint, force and in a mental health context in police custody in disproportionaltely high rates in. England & Wales. See this @INQUEST_ORG
page https://www.inquest.org.uk/bame-deaths-in-police-custody
page https://www.inquest.org.uk/bame-deaths-in-police-custody
There has never been a successful prosecution of an officer for a homicide offence in connection with a death in custody in E&W. Here is a para from the 2017 Angiolini Report to ram that home - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/655401/Report_of_Angiolini_Review_ISBN_Accessible.pdf
Here's part of the conclusion on ethnicity. It's powerful stuff.
This isn't a black or BAME problem. It is all of our problem. Because it is our system. Our legal system discriminates on racial grounds. Again, see @CrimeGirI's tweet above.
Now, I have prosecuted and defended in crime (though I don't much anymore). I have worked with some amazing police officers. But that isn't the point. It's about recognising and confronting structural and institutional racism and us all working to change it. All lawyers.
The Bar, and the judiciary in particular also need to work harder to diversify. The lack of diversity re all protected characteristics in the higher judiciary is appalling. But I'm not going to get into that in detail, mainly as I need to do at least some work today.
Re the #antiracismchallenge @BarristerAbi I've donated to @NAACP and @ACLU. Re sharing an uncomfortable moment when I learned about racism, I have two. 1. To this day I've only ever been stopped and searched by the police once (lucky me).
At home in Harrow when I was 18. Harrow is a diverse place. It's not just a school... That night I was in the middle of the back seat of a car with 4 black and Asian young men my age in Wealdstone when police stopped us and searched the car. The pretence was people were smoking.
They were smoking B&H. Afterwards I said it had never happened to me before, after 2 years of driving round and round the same roads. They laughed in my face. I'd known these people for years. They said it happened to them all the time. I still remember the embarrasment at the
realisation that people who I had grown up with had been treated differently our entire lives - it's just that I'd never seen it out in the open. I just happened to be in the middle seat and there was no one else white in the car.
2. I used to work at St Catherine District prison, St Andrews, Jamaica, via @DeathPenaltyP and the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights. I used to get welcomed by the guards with a "Ah, Mr Robottom, you Jamaican?" I asked my boss why. I was told it was a plantation name.
St Catherine District Prison was built in 1655 to hold 320 African Slaves.The building is still stood there today - holding 5 men to a one man cell. The guards thought I was a white Jamaican from a plantation family. Here are the Robottoms - same spelling http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/1828al04.htm
The guards were nevertheless always happy to see me.
I felt, and I feel, shame. At my name and the history of my country.
I felt, and I feel, shame. At my name and the history of my country.
If as @BarristerAbi says @renireni has asked that people lend others their copies of Why I'm no Longer Talking to White People About Race not buy it I need to borrow someone's please. Because I've not read it. Does anyone have a copy I can borrow?
In return I can offer a slightly worn version of Ellison's Invisible Man to anyone who hasn't read it. My teenage annotations say 'invisible to history' (clever me) and 'move to violence.' I'm aware of Toni Morrison's criticism of it. But everyone should have to read it, I think.
At least all white people. And certainly all white lawyers. I love that book, but I live a very white, middle class life these days. And I don't do enough to change the system I work within. I'll try to do better.
Lastly, there are, of course, some incredible black and BAME legal voices on twitter who should be amplified. Just a few @Metienne12 @daniellemanson @shushinluh @_lesliethomas @ElaineBanton @Beheshteh_E @mryderqc @legally_lola @BarristerAbi @ahmed_aydeed @SheroyZaq
