In this powerful and timely episode, I take you inside one of the many legal cases I have acted on where Black languages practices have been criminalised.
In this case a Black man was recalled to prison simply for saying “my nigga” to a Black police officer while on licence. What followed was a wrongful prosecution rooted not in a fundamental misunderstanding of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Black British English (BBE). Drawing on my own experience as the lawyer who acted in this case, we unpack how linguistic context, cultural expression, and systemic bias collided with UK law and how the Crown ultimately offered no evidence and dropped the prosecution.
We explore what this case reveals about freedom of expression, racialised policing, and the legal system’s struggle (or failure) to grapple with language diversity. Expect candid discussion about how everyday speech can be criminalised, why this matters far beyond one individual, and what this means for language justice and racial equity in the law.
📍 Read more about the case here: https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2026/02/03/black-man-has-criminal-prosecution-dropped-after-he-called-black-police-officer-my-n-word/
