Pattern or Practice

DOJ, Please Look at JCPS Next

With the announcement from the DOJ about LMPD, I’d like to bring a few other items to the public’s attention by highlighting several examples of abuse of power, lies, fraud, cover-ups that we are aware of, not just in LMPD but also in JCPS. The “patterns and practices” cross over to other departments and other agencies. They investigate themselves and find no wrongdoing. The local agencies who are supposed to oversee them appear to be in on it. All of our cries for justice get swept under the rug. The media buys whatever they sell them and everyone moves on. We must get national attention and more scrutiny from those who don’t have a legacy of power to protect.

A couple of years ago, I wrote about Brian Thurman’s Story. A white West Louisville resident who was murdered by LMPD officer Harry Seders. Honestly, I think it was an accident by a nervous cop who panicked, but the elaborate schemes that followed in order to downplay, cover up and mislead the public turned this unfortunate incident into a crime. From the subsequent murder of protestor and activist Travis Nagdy that same night, to keep crowds of protestors from descending on the scene, to the lie they told to the media, to the ongoing denial and terrorizing of our community, the series of events have yet to be acknowledged, much less corrected. How can we trust our police to protect us when they can’t even acknowledge the harm they cause?

There’s also the story of Omari Cryer who was smoked out of a friend’s house, chased like a dog and shot in the back. The Kentucky State Police was brought in to “investigate” but it appears that all they did was help doctor the video that was finally released much later. Eye-witnesses reported three shots were fired, but the audio does not seem to match what the video shows, which is three bullet wounds, including one in the back. 

Justice for Omari Cryer

And most recently, the two (three) teen boys who were shot by LMPD for being somewhere they probably shouldn’t have been. Why did it take two weeks to release the video? At least this time, they’re calling it “unintentional” but the cop himself said, “I just want to get them” and “I got one.” Sounds intentional to me. If they didn’t do anything wrong, why aren’t they being fully transparent?

We don’t want LMPD (or any police) in our schools, because they cause harm and then lie about it! They have bias and repeatedly don’t treat our black children the same way they would treat white children. They do not know how to recognize trauma, disability, even impacts of poverty and lack of access to quality education, so their first instinct often is to treat them as criminals, not students who need to be diagnosed, deescalated and redirected. The pattern continues and the stories that make the news are after repeated injustices.

They’re not the only ones who cause harm and lie. Here’s an example of current school board members trying to “explain away” why one of them was so hot to redistrict school board boundaries. Having caught my own school board member in the act of several hard to explain scenarios, I documented this one so others can hopefully start to see what I have been sounding the alarm about and help me get to the truth. Regardless of the reasons why they did it, they certainly knew there was more to the story and went to great lengths to cover it up. See for yourself here.

And there are dozens (if not hundreds (thousands?)) of stories of misconduct, harassment, fraud, cover-ups, racism and retaliation against JCPS employees, students and parents. Remember the part during the press conference where US Attorney General Merrick Garland mentioned LMPD calling Black people monkeys? Well, that happened in JCPS, too. A Black JCPS counselor at a mostly Black elementary school who reported it and other abuses by a racist White kindergarten teacher where she worked, got demoted, attacked, labeled, and abused, mentally and emotionally, and more, for simply doing her job. And, despite having been strong-armed into settling her case with the district, the denial and abuse they inflict CONTINUES to this day — and other state and local agencies are also implicated! Here’s a link to the latest development in her story.

Black Female JCPS Educator Files Motion to Protect Her Rights

 

This post will be updated.