I made a promise to the law and I didn’t let the law win

Yesterday, I was on the 96 tram minding my own business.

There was a brother sitting opposite me who had a bit too much to drink as it was and also had a can of beer in his lap, progressively getting drunker, when the transit cops got on.

He wasn’t facing the doors and couldn’t see the cops get on because he was having a conversation with some random dude he had just met on the tram- right in front of me. Because it’s important to the story, he was actually having a conversation with a white man, who also had a beer in his hand it was 30C and sunny and glorious in Melbourne I don’t blame them

So there I was, seeing the cops board and I immediately told this dude: “brother - the cops, hide your beer and if you don’t have a ticket get off now”.

The white man bounced faster than anything, brother man took a little longer, his reflexes weren’t as sharp because of the beers but he absolutely did not get stopped or questioned. I wasn’t concerned for the white man, he was going to be ok. He could have been sitting there smoking crack cocaine or a full beer bong and he would have been ok. I wasn’t worried about him, or cared.

I even made up some bullshit to try and delay the tram cops so they would talk to me instead of targeting him.

I just know how this situation ends for black and brown folks. For clarity, I mean people who are politically black and brown, not just actually pigmented in tone. There is a big difference.

I am well aware that I made an affirmation to the law when I became a lawyer. I take my affirmation to the Court, the client and the profession seriously, so don’t you jump in here with your “don’t help people commit crimes or you’re a criminal too” bullshit.

It’s because of that affirmation I made to the Court, the client and the law that I was absolutely not going to let a brother come anywhere NEAR the criminal legal system.

Don’t confuse fairness for legality.

The law doesn’t have to be fair, it just has to be followed and you can bet that the law would have absolutely followed that brother to the end of the earth just to punish him for his circumstances. The law would have come down hard on him for being black in public and that is not fair.