Jury duty

Was called to Hillsborough for jury duty, part of a citizen's duty, no problem. The problem was why I was there. Or, rather, why the 50-odd of us were there, between the judge, the officers and staff of the court, the DA and his assistant, the two police officers who were witnesses, and the potential jurors.

It was a relatively affluent-looking white woman in her 30s-40s with a little black dress and a tight, austere bun, accompanied by her dad, fighting a DWI. Literally 50 people were there, some paid by the state, others disrupting their days, so she could fight a DWI.

This was white privilege at its absolute worst. She either blew a .08 or she didn't. It was clear from the defense attorney's questions during the voir dire that he was going to cast doubt upon the credibility of the breathalyzer test or some failure of due process on the cops' part. But if it was the former, where was his expert witness? If the latter, where was his corroborating witness? Was it the father of the accused, who was there protecting his little girl.

Complete and utter bullshit. They better be glad the didn't impanel me.