Young.
Nervous.
Some former patrol officers.
Some recent graduates.
Leah Barnes stood near the wall.
Josephine did not show the slap video.
Everybody expected her to.
Instead, she displayed two photographs.
One of herself from that morning.
Burgundy suit.
Pinstripe coat.
The second of Maya Turner.
Gray sweatshirt.
Braids.
Josephine asked:
“What do these women have in common?”
Nobody answered at first.
A recruit finally said:
“They’re both Black women.”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Silence.
“Same age?”
“No.”
“Same height?”
“No.”
“Same clothes?”
“No.”
“Same hair?”
“No.”
“Same legal status?”
“No.”
Josephine nodded.
“Yet one officer decided they were interchangeable.”
She turned off the screen.
“The lesson is not that you should memorize judges’ faces.”
Several recruits smiled nervously.
“The lesson is not that attorneys deserve softer treatment.”
“It is not that important people require caution.”
She looked across the room.
“The lesson is that you should be able to explain your authority before you use force against anybody.”
She paused.
“If you cannot explain why a person must comply, do not transform their question into the reason they must comply.”
Nobody moved.
Josephine continued.
“You will meet angry people.”
“Frightened people.”
“Guilty people.”
“Innocent people.”
“People who lie.”
“People who know the law better than you.”
“People who know less.”
“Your professionalism cannot depend on liking them.”
She looked toward Leah.
Then back.
“And if someone tells you to turn off a lawful recording because the situation is becoming inconvenient?”
Leah smiled.
Josephine did too.
“You already know the answer.”
Afterward, one recruit approached.
“Judge Caldwell?”
“Yes?”
“I saw the video when I was in college.”
Josephine waited.
“My friends thought it was funny.”
Her expression changed.
“Funny?”
“Not the slap.”
He became embarrassed.
“The part where the bailiff says ‘Your Honor’ and the officer realizes.”
Josephine nodded.
Millions had reacted exactly that way.
The recruit continued.
“I thought it was funny too.”
“And now?”
He looked toward the empty training room.
“Now I think the scary part is how differently everybody reacted once they knew who you were.”
Josephine smiled slightly.
“You understood the assignment.”
The recruit laughed.
Then became serious.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t hit me.”
“No.”
“But I think I watched it wrong.”
Josephine considered that.