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‘We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.’
Earlier this year I was approached by Counsel to write an article on race and diversity at the Bar. I did so. That article appeared in the July 2020 issue. This is a follow-up article. Look at it as a mid-term report as to how we are doing as a profession. My verdict is that we could be doing so much better. There is still a lot of room for improvement.
As I was writing this article, news broke that a friend of mine and a fantastic young talented barrister, Alexandra Wilson, author of In Black and White, was the subject of unacceptable and racist behaviour while doing her job. No, she was not subjected to explicit racist abuse. You don’t have to be to suffer these microaggressive behaviours in the workplace. But she was made to feel that the space in which we all inhabit and is part of our daily professional lives, the courtroom, only belongs to some of us and not all of us – despite the fact that we all have the same qualification to practise at the Bar and appear in court.
What was that behaviour? She was repeatedly assumed not to be a barrister. And, indeed, was shouted at by a clerk to get out of court. Alexandra noted that none of the white barristers were challenged or made to justify their existence.
How is Alexandra different? She is a young Black woman. When we people of colour are assumed to be defendants where our white colleagues are not, this is racism, pure and simple. An assumption is made by just looking at the colour of our skin that we are to be seen in a negative light. Let’s face it – saying you are a defendant isn’t paying you a compliment. If you are Black, you must be the defendant, not a court professional. The fact is that Black counsel are disproportionately seen more negatively than white counsel and assumed not to be who we are.
Alexandra’s story is not unique. I remember, when I was a young barrister over 30 years ago, another brilliant Black woman barrister telling me a similar story. Her name was Nicola Williams and at the time she was a colleague of mine when I was at Wellington Street Chambers. It was 1989 and I was just starting on my journey at the Bar. Nicola would often tell me and others that whenever she went to court she would be assumed to be anyone but the barrister. She would be the defendant, the defendant’s sister, friend, clerk, etc, but never the barrister. It was something that we, Black people, could relate to. Indeed, over the course of my career this has happened to me numerous times and I have my own stories to tell. Time and time again I would shrug it off and deal with the task at hand, namely being a barrister and representing my clients, despite the fact that these microhostile encounters with court staff, other barristers, and at times judges were deeply upsetting. Many barristers of colour have similar stories to tell. So, my white colleagues, do not be surprised. This is happening all the time. And needs to stop.
I even remember one white medical expert coming up to me after we had won a case and saying just how impressed he was with how ‘articulate’ I was in court. I silently thought to myself ‘But isn’t being articulate part of being a barrister?’ Now, I am sure that this expert was trying to pay me a compliment, but it was nevertheless racist. There was an implicit assumption and hence an expectation that I would not be articulate, which is why he was surprised. In his world, Black people apparently are not articulate.
Further, being a person of colour, we are often asked by complete strangers, ‘Where do you come from?’ When we reply, for example, ‘London’, it is often followed up with ‘No, where do you really come from?’ And even if this is followed up with ‘Hammersmith’ this might be met with ‘No, where do you originate from?’ or ‘Where do your parents come from?’ These are highly personal questions based on assumptions derived from your skin colour. They are saying that you are different, that you do not belong here – despite the fact that you may be born, bred and brought up in the UK.
These questions are not just innocent curiosity. They are racist. These are things that white colleagues do not have to put up with. White colleagues do not have to routinely justify their existence. This is the privilege that their white skin gives them.
In my opinion our system of justice is implicitly racist. It is not colour blind. Alexandra’s and many of our experiences are testament to this. These are not one-offs. It is a system which is based on white privilege and white supremacy. We people of colour see it every day and continue to see it. From the top of the profession where there is a shameful lack of diversity among the senior judiciary, all the way down to how court security staff and ushers/clerks treat Black and Brown people, including barristers. It is a damning indictment as to how court users of colour are treated appallingly. The immigration tribunal and the criminal courts are particularly bad. As I observed in my previous article, the Lammy Review in 2017 found that Black defendants were 240% more likely to receive a prison sentence for a drug offence than white defendants, and that Black people, who make up 3% of the population, make up 12% of prisoners and 21% of those in youth custody. Every one of those Black prisoners was sent there by a judge. In my previous article I also related a colleague’s experience of everyday racism in the immigration tribunal.
Alexandra could not have put it better when she said in a BBC interview that: ‘No one should have to be shouted at and told to get out of court, whether they are defendants or barristers.’ So our profession needs to take a long hard look at itself.
I repeat that I am not a race expert, but I am learning. We all have to learn. So what do we have to do? I want to suggest a plan for improving diversity, which I set out below:
Increasing the presence of Black people in senior positions within the legal industry: what we must do
Theory
Practice
Professor Leslie Thomas KC is is an award-winning human rights/civil liberties barrister and former Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers and head of JC Legal Solutions in the Caribbean. In 2020 Leslie became Professor of Law at Gresham College and visiting Professor of Law at Goldsmiths Law School, University of London. He is a Bencher and advocacy trainer for the Inner Temple. Leslie is a member of the Bar Standards Board for England and Wales, sits on the BSB’s Race Equality Taskforce and is the Chair of the Equality Diversity and Inclusion sub-committee for the Inner Temple.
‘We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.’
Earlier this year I was approached by Counsel to write an article on race and diversity at the Bar. I did so. That article appeared in the July 2020 issue. This is a follow-up article. Look at it as a mid-term report as to how we are doing as a profession. My verdict is that we could be doing so much better. There is still a lot of room for improvement.
As I was writing this article, news broke that a friend of mine and a fantastic young talented barrister, Alexandra Wilson, author of In Black and White, was the subject of unacceptable and racist behaviour while doing her job. No, she was not subjected to explicit racist abuse. You don’t have to be to suffer these microaggressive behaviours in the workplace. But she was made to feel that the space in which we all inhabit and is part of our daily professional lives, the courtroom, only belongs to some of us and not all of us – despite the fact that we all have the same qualification to practise at the Bar and appear in court.
What was that behaviour? She was repeatedly assumed not to be a barrister. And, indeed, was shouted at by a clerk to get out of court. Alexandra noted that none of the white barristers were challenged or made to justify their existence.
How is Alexandra different? She is a young Black woman. When we people of colour are assumed to be defendants where our white colleagues are not, this is racism, pure and simple. An assumption is made by just looking at the colour of our skin that we are to be seen in a negative light. Let’s face it – saying you are a defendant isn’t paying you a compliment. If you are Black, you must be the defendant, not a court professional. The fact is that Black counsel are disproportionately seen more negatively than white counsel and assumed not to be who we are.
Alexandra’s story is not unique. I remember, when I was a young barrister over 30 years ago, another brilliant Black woman barrister telling me a similar story. Her name was Nicola Williams and at the time she was a colleague of mine when I was at Wellington Street Chambers. It was 1989 and I was just starting on my journey at the Bar. Nicola would often tell me and others that whenever she went to court she would be assumed to be anyone but the barrister. She would be the defendant, the defendant’s sister, friend, clerk, etc, but never the barrister. It was something that we, Black people, could relate to. Indeed, over the course of my career this has happened to me numerous times and I have my own stories to tell. Time and time again I would shrug it off and deal with the task at hand, namely being a barrister and representing my clients, despite the fact that these microhostile encounters with court staff, other barristers, and at times judges were deeply upsetting. Many barristers of colour have similar stories to tell. So, my white colleagues, do not be surprised. This is happening all the time. And needs to stop.
I even remember one white medical expert coming up to me after we had won a case and saying just how impressed he was with how ‘articulate’ I was in court. I silently thought to myself ‘But isn’t being articulate part of being a barrister?’ Now, I am sure that this expert was trying to pay me a compliment, but it was nevertheless racist. There was an implicit assumption and hence an expectation that I would not be articulate, which is why he was surprised. In his world, Black people apparently are not articulate.
Further, being a person of colour, we are often asked by complete strangers, ‘Where do you come from?’ When we reply, for example, ‘London’, it is often followed up with ‘No, where do you really come from?’ And even if this is followed up with ‘Hammersmith’ this might be met with ‘No, where do you originate from?’ or ‘Where do your parents come from?’ These are highly personal questions based on assumptions derived from your skin colour. They are saying that you are different, that you do not belong here – despite the fact that you may be born, bred and brought up in the UK.
These questions are not just innocent curiosity. They are racist. These are things that white colleagues do not have to put up with. White colleagues do not have to routinely justify their existence. This is the privilege that their white skin gives them.
In my opinion our system of justice is implicitly racist. It is not colour blind. Alexandra’s and many of our experiences are testament to this. These are not one-offs. It is a system which is based on white privilege and white supremacy. We people of colour see it every day and continue to see it. From the top of the profession where there is a shameful lack of diversity among the senior judiciary, all the way down to how court security staff and ushers/clerks treat Black and Brown people, including barristers. It is a damning indictment as to how court users of colour are treated appallingly. The immigration tribunal and the criminal courts are particularly bad. As I observed in my previous article, the Lammy Review in 2017 found that Black defendants were 240% more likely to receive a prison sentence for a drug offence than white defendants, and that Black people, who make up 3% of the population, make up 12% of prisoners and 21% of those in youth custody. Every one of those Black prisoners was sent there by a judge. In my previous article I also related a colleague’s experience of everyday racism in the immigration tribunal.
Alexandra could not have put it better when she said in a BBC interview that: ‘No one should have to be shouted at and told to get out of court, whether they are defendants or barristers.’ So our profession needs to take a long hard look at itself.
I repeat that I am not a race expert, but I am learning. We all have to learn. So what do we have to do? I want to suggest a plan for improving diversity, which I set out below:
Increasing the presence of Black people in senior positions within the legal industry: what we must do
Theory
Practice
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