🧵 To journalists contacting me about the recent developments with the #StephenLawrence case. I don't have much to say without sounding like a broken record. I say the below entirely in my own capacity: I've become friends with Stuart Lawrence. This year marked the 30th anniversary of Stephen's murder. I attended an event with Stuart a few months ago where he was asked by a police org to, once again speak about racism in policing, the investigation & how it affected his family.

Seminal report from @INQUEST_ORG into Race, death and British Policing: inquest.org.uk/i-cant-breathe…

They've concluded that the system of accountability for racism and racial discrimination in deaths of Black people following police contact is not fit for purpose. 🧵 Black people are 7 times more likely than white people to die following police restraint.

I am so struck by the dignitiy of this family. #JusticeForChrisKaba @JeffersonBosela Chris's mum shared how much joy he brought to her home. How he shone a light. How he would go out to his way to ensure she was happy

1. I saw this article and paused at the headline for a moment wondering whether to retweet it. To me the issue was much more fundamental than this but less straightforward to explain. independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n… 2. One of my duties as @policeISOB chair is to ask challenging questions of the police; particularly of the ones in leadership positions within this programme.

These Kilclooney tweets are a real insight into racism

1. Does something racist 2. Doubles down on said racism using the "I know one or two ppl of that race" excuse

1. Many missing the point. Black lawyers are exhausted when mistaken for a defendant because black defendants are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. It is a SYMPTOM of the over-criminalisation of black people. 2. It reminds us that people who work in the CJS are so used to seeing Black faces to the point that ANY Black face in the court room is a defendant. It shows the internal programming of those that work at court and how deep this issue runs.

This is terrible advice:

1. You shouldn't need to be excellent in order to improve your chances of combating racism

2. It's not down to anyone Black to "defeat racism"

3. Being excellent doesn't shield you from racism so the advice is totally invalid anyway.

https://twitter.com/ShaunBaileyUK/status/1281237501936623616

The whole 'black excellence' narrative is problematic. @YourGirlTiwa wrote STUNNINGLY in @BlackBalladUK about why we should CELEBRATE Black mediocrity: blackballad.co.uk/views-voices/g…

1. So frustrating when politicians revise their political record. Theresa May was PM btwn Apr 2016 & Apr 2019. The use of s.60 stop and searches increased MASSIVELY. This is a type of stop and search that does NOT require individual reasonable suspicion (source: @StopWatchUK )

https://twitter.com/BBCWorldatOne/status/1281204027804585987

2. Unsurprisingly, s60 stop and searches have even wider racial disparity than those conducted under PACE (source: @StopWatchUK)

1️⃣ Imagine commissioning the 2017 @DavidLammy Review (see extract) that:

- Highlighted racial inequality at every stage of criminal justice EXCEPT jury verdicts;

- Made 37 recommendations

Then instead of implementing any of those, deciding to reduce the use of juries... 2️⃣ Imagine instead starving the system of cash until buildings fall down & courts had to reduce capacity because they couldn't pay staff and judges, creating a 39000 case backlog pre-lockdown and then...telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…

Been reflecting on recent events and wondering whether we in the legal profession can truly say we are consciously
#antiracist in the way that we preside over, present and defend cases. We often criticise policing but what do we do in court? For example:
[A thread] 1. I've seen Criminal Behaviour Order applications being made referencing points like the number of times a defendant has been stopped and searched without contemplating the fact that Black people are x40 more likely to be targeted in this way by police: theguardian.com/law/2019/may/0…

Many follow me here after my features in @ElleUK, @MetroUK & the #antiracismchallenge I posted. So Iere is a thread of other pieces by my Black and Brown colleagues that provide insight into their experiences. Essential reading for both the public and fellow practitioners... As a profession we can be opaque. I've had students tell me that they don't see members of the Bar that look like them; the public don't know what we do; & colleagues operate w/o insight into the experience of Black and brown members of the Bar. So, some reading material:

Yday I was part of a panel providing some online training to those thinking of attending the protests this wknd. Organised by @ZayZee00!
On the panel were also @moniquebouffe, @RamyRaoof and @4FrontProject. We reached 200+ ppl. But some highlights for you (a thread) 1. The law in this area is, at best, grey. There could be an argument that the right to peaceful protest should be seen as a reasonable excuse, allowing gatherings of more than 6. But attend with caution. Y r u going? If you feel that you must, be wise

I'm hosting a Zoom tonight with my younger cousins to explain their rights if stopped by the police. They asked because one of their 14yo friends was arrested, strip searched and held for 5 hours without parental contact. For kicking a bollard #BlackAtTheBar /1 I asked my Black friends if this would be something they'd want me to do for their younger relatives too. They all said yes. Every one of them. #BlackAtTheBar /2

When the charge of third degree murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter were laid against #Chauvin, the @ACLU criticised the 3rd degree murder charge as being “legally defective.” #GeorgeFloyd @ACLU highlighted: "Third Degree Murder applies only when the acts of the defendant were committed without regard to their effect on any particular person, and not when the actions were directed to a specific person." #GeorgeFloyd

Vdeo circulating of a black man being repeatedly tasered in a petrol station by 2 @gmpolice officers in front of his young child is traumatic. They've been referred to the @IOPC_Help. There are wider questions here about the training they received leading up to this. Abhorrent. So no violent charges or charges relating, for example, to a weapon. Definitely a case to keep an eye on. The public is watching.

To anyone who was unsuccessful in securing a pupillage during this round of applications, I just want to reassure you that most barristers have had a period of rejection, failure or setback. Mine came in Feb 2013. [A thread] After 16 months, I did not secure tenancy at my first set of chambers. It was heartbreaking, I'd worked hard in a lengthy pupillage and really felt that I'd let myself down. No exit interview or any in depth feedback as to what had gone wrong, just a couple of headlines.

So...I'm watching #TOWIE (yes, judge me). And I'm genuinely disturbed by the exhibition of controlling, coercive and abusive behaviour traits that the men on the show exhibit. I've just watched one guy see his girlfriend cry. He's reacted by shouting at her repeatedly and calling her 'fucking spoilt'.

1 - Knife crime has made a lot of headlines this year. Given my line of work, people have been asking for my opinion on the reasons for the rise and whether there’s anything they can do…well here it is. 2 - The rise isn’t new, it’s been happening for years and these aren’t ‘kitchen knives’ that are grabbed in the heat of the moment, I recently did a case that featured 15 yo boys walking around Tulse Hill armed with Rambo style hunting knives and samurai swords.