In Black And White Blog Tour + Review

‘I glanced around the courtroom, quickly at first and then repeated it. Slower this time, taking in the details of everyone’s faces. I began to play the game I’d played my whole life: spot the black person. Of course, I wish it didn’t matter what I looked like or where I came from, but it was obvious that no one there looked like me.’

Alexandra is 25, mixed-race and from Essex. As a trainee criminal barrister, she finds herself navigating a world and a set of rules designed by a privileged few. This is her story.

We follow Alexandra through a criminal justice system still divided by race and class. We hear about the life-changing events that motivated her to practice criminal law, beginning with the murder of a close family friend and her own experiences of knife crime. She shows us how it feels to defend someone who hates the colour of your skin or someone you suspect is guilty, and the heart-breaking cases of youth justice she has worked on. We see what it’s like for the teenagers coerced into county line drug deals and the damage that can be caused when we criminalise teenagers.

Her story is unique in a profession still dominated by a privileged section of society with little first-hand experience of the devastating impact of violent crime.

Alexandra, a young black woman from Essex who has worked her way to a trainee criminal barrister at the young age of 25. Even though I have never been interested in pursuing a career in the court system, I was definitely drawn to the story of a young black woman like myself. I am 20 and seeing myself start to get serious about my career in the business field, so I really wanted to see a nice success story to motivate me to continue plugging through these college courses and internships. Alexandra and I even share the same first name! In Black and White definitely didn’t disappoint me. 

Alexandra discusses so many aspects of the justice system in the UK (specifically in England.) From how there are many cases that should have never made it to court clogging up the system and traumatizing the witnesses, to how toxic the workplace can be for women. Even though the legal system in the UK has many differences from the system in the US, many of the same problems plague both. The problem of not enough barristers/lawyers of color/of different genders exists in both countries. The problem of children not having a real way of being protected/understood once sent to court (especially in court exists in both countries. 

Alexandra shares so many stories of herself trying to help the people she came across while she was working as a barrister-in-training. It felt almost like reading a story, except these were real people’s lives who were being affected by the outcomes of these cases (names and personal info were changed). I wanted to see Alexandra succeed and become a barrister, but what would succeeding entail in the climate where she worked? Would she be able to help her community or would she be hurting them by being involved in the court system in any way? All these were questions that Alexandra had to grapple with throughout this novel. 

I couldn’t put this book down from start to finish. I always wanted to know where Alexandra was on her journey and who she would be trying to help next along the way. 

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a non-fiction book that delves into the legal system in the UK. 

I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review. 

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 books.