24th March, 2025
- Black Lawyer
- Mar 25
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 25
Entry: The TikTok Testimony
Filed under: Likes, Lies, and Legal Consequences
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Dearest Diary,
There are days when I regard this profession with great reverence—a calling of order, honour, and solemn duty.
And then there are days when a witness appears before the court, takes a long drag from an electronic cigarette, and begins a criminal livestream with a glitter filter and a caption that reads less like a statement of fact and more like a threat to the legal system itself.
We found ourselves entangled in a rather modest custody matter—two parents, both delightfully delusional, engaged in a tug-of-war over a child who, by all accounts, had begun emotionally emancipating herself long ago.
Let us call the witness Bria.
She arrived to the virtual courtroom late and radiated the sort of confidence one only acquires after surviving several regrettable decisions and emerging entirely unbothered. With a vape in hand and the casual disdain of someone who believes court decorum is a social suggestion, she wafted blueberry mist into the camera.
Still, ever the optimist, I adjusted my wig and gave her the benefit of the doubt.
Until… the pings began.
The familiar chimes of a woman far too online for the sanctity of the court.
The judge’s eyes narrowed—sharpened, really.
Bria, serenely puffing away, offered this royal dismissal:
“My bad, lemme close my apps.”
She did not.
For Bria was not closing anything.
She was recording.
Knowingly. Brazenly.
On TikTok Live.
Her front-facing camera cast an angelic glow.
And the caption?
“Court hearing. Don’t play w me. He ain’t getting these kids lol.”
Diary… there was glitter.
Glitter.
Used mid-contempt.
The judge regarded her as one might regard a toddler holding a lit match.
With horror. And a bit of curiosity.
“Ma’am,” said Her Honour, her voice clipped like fine crystal,
“Are you recording these proceedings?”
Bria blinked—twice—and then replied with the sincerity of a sociopath:
“No… I’m just sharing my experience.”
“Ma’am,” said Her Honour, her voice forced into politeness,
“Are you vaping in these proceedings?”
“Yes, but I’m almost done with it”
At this point, I seriously considered logging off the hearing, the profession, and perhaps even society.
But Bria? She continued filming.
The live chat, I regret to inform you, exploded:
“She ate.”
“Show the judge.”
“Tell him you want full custody AND the charger.”
One viewer dropped a CashApp.
Another inquired if the bailiff was single.
Bria ended the stream, but not before delivering her closing monologue:
“Justice is a journey. Like, comment, and share for updates.”
Diary, I very nearly fainted.
Court recessed at once.
Her Honour expelled Bria from the Zoom room with the gentle ferocity of a monarch dismissing a traitor from court.
An order followed—so sharp , it may make Bria cut this sh*t out next time.
And as I closed my laptop, I reflected, not for the first time, on the state of the modern world.
The courtroom, once a sacred chamber of truth and process, has become—for some—a stage.
For clout. For chaos. For commentary.
Justice may be blind…
But TikTok?
TikTok has a ring light and a marketing plan.
I remain, as ever—
Grateful. Grounded. Unbothered.
Shiraya Genea Jackson, Esq.
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Disclaimer: This entry is legally fictional but emotionally inevitable. Any resemblance to real individuals is, quite frankly, on them.
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Tag someone who would absolutely livestream their own contempt hearing—complete with filter.
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