If you’re a POC and experience racism, how do you handle it? Do you let it slide? Do you always speak up? Each person has their own way of handling it, but in a courtroom setting, that racism is just as disgusting. TikToker Leslie, an Ohio lawyer, hops into a car and immediately spills the tea on an awkward moment she had with a judge. “Every time something racist happens to me, as a black woman attorney in court,” that she’ll always “say something.” Leslie admits she’s “really tired of it.” And it’s frustrating to see it happen as well.
After driving over an hour to court, Leslie arrived for a scheduled assignment and was looking for someone to point her in the right direction. The location is actually “not my home county,” so she’s unfamiliar with it. With that said, her license gives her the ability to practice “anywhere in the state that I want to.” In other words, few have more of a reason to be there.
Leslie then breaks down the basic steps before everything goes to trial, and how she manages it. She clearly treats it very seriously and with a high level of professionalism. You’d expect that from each and every lawyer. “They know we’re coming. He’s on the docket,” Leslie says in her TikTok video. When she walks into court, she notices one of the women handling case files and makes an educated guess that she’s likely someone who will help her with an inquiry.
“I whisper, okay. I’m not loud, I’m not interrupting,” Leslie says, and quietly asks where she’s meant to check in for court. Her client was there too, so everyone was accounted for.
Suddenly, the judge stops the court after addressing someone else. Leslie claims the judge asked if the clerk was “okay” and if she knew Leslie. She didn’t, which prompts the judge to rudely tell Leslie to “have a seat.”
Leslie does try to explain herself, and although her question is answered, it wasn’t without causing a scene. The judge claims she was “scared” because she saw Leslie approach the clerk. Leslie looks dumbfounded in her TikTok video, then shows off her outfit, so no can say she didn’t “look like an attorney.” She’s wearing a lovely suit with pants.
When Leslie finally gets called up, she’s suddenly cold-shouldered by the prosecutor. After already seeing that she had been given the files and told that she and her client were ready, he suddenly doesn’t “recognize her.” She’s even sitting in the front row. But before she can move on, the judge calls her up to “apologize profusely.”
One commenter pointed out the horrible implication of all this, if true: “If they have this immediate bias towards you – A LAWYER I can only imagine their biases and behavior towards those needing a lawyer.” In the same thread, Leslie responds with an emoji of a bullseye.
Another commenter recommended reporting it “every time” because of it being “unethical.” And they aren’t wrong. As a judge, you shouldn’t have that kind of bias. How do you know it won’t sway your decision?
One commenter remarked, “They’re ALWAYS scared, and they’re ALWAYS sorry, and they NEVER mean anything by it.” Sad, really. It’s not often you see someone give up the ghost, just apologize, and learn. No one’s asking people to grovel.
