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Kansas City, MO
Joined November 2020
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The Kansas City Defender retweeted
Why are we funding this?
The Kansas City Defender retweeted
BREAKING: Bodycam footage shows the police lynching of unarmed Black teen Saveion McConnell.
A Missouri deputy shot at him 9 times. At least 6 of those shots came after Saveion was already incapacitated on the pavement.
The prosecutor says it was legal. Watch. 🧵
We are publishing the full, unedited recordings and the prosecutor's memo so you can see all of it yourself.
View the full investigation here: kansascitydefender.com/justi…
Russell justifies one shot: a hand near a waistband. He never analyzes the second, or the ninth.
Even if one believed every word of the deputy's story. That would only justify the first shot. There are eight more, and six came after Saveion was on the ground.
For 4 and a half months the state hid this tape and hid the deputy's name. On Tuesday, Johnson County Prosecutor Robert Russell released a memo: no charges.
The memo was addressed to three police commanders. It misspells Saveion's name on every page.
Earlier on the same recording, one of the two officers says:
"Trying to find a Black kid at night, that's always fun."
Minutes later, they found one.
In the seconds before the gunfire, the officer standing next to Lewie can be heard yelling "Taser! Taser! Taser!"
The man beside him judged the moment called for a Taser. Lewie fired a gun. Nine times.
Saveion was 19. Went to Lee's Summit North HS in Missouri. Played sports. Was the only son among his mother's four children. He was unarmed & never charged with a crime.
On May 1, Lafayette County Deputy Kenneth Lewie hit him with a patrol car, then later opened fire.
BREAKING: Bodycam footage shows the police lynching of unarmed Black teen Saveion McConnell.
A Missouri deputy shot at him 9 times. At least 6 of those shots came after Saveion was already incapacitated on the pavement.
The prosecutor says it was legal. Watch. 🧵
The Kansas City Defender retweeted
Not a Game To Us: Police Budgets and the World Cup
@sunrisemvmtkc in collab with the @KCDefender & @DecarcerateKC, take a look at how the World Cup impacts police budgets and what the cost REALLY is... heyzine.com/flip-book/31828b…
#BoycottWorldCup
The Kansas City Defender retweeted
Poignant story by @DirectorVaughan
for @KCDefender about Erica Green, the girl Kansas City came to know as Precious Doe: kansascitydefender.com/missi…
The Kansas City Defender retweeted
The People's Free Store Comes to 31st & Prospect: KC Defender Distributes Hundreds of Free Clothing & Hygiene Items to Black People kansascitydefender.com/mutua… via @kcdefender
The Kansas City Defender retweeted
This year's grantees include Wyoming Today, @KCDefender, @MSTODAYnews and @CalMatters, along with independent journalists Larkin Smith, Eryn Davis and Amanda Purcell.
The Kansas City Defender retweeted
A lot of us wouldn’t have known about what happened to Ralph Yarl without the courage and journalism of @KCDefender.
Much love and light to Ralph and his family as they continue to heal and hold people to account.
The Kansas City Defender retweeted
She Spent 40 Years Collecting 20,000 Black Books. We Refused to Let Them Disappear.
How a 22-year-old, 40 organizers, and a newsroom fought to save Missouri’s oldest Black bookstore — and what comes next.
kansascitydefender.com/kansa… | @KCDefender
Read the full piece here;
kansascitydefender.com/natio…
The federal government could pursue locations in neighboring Grandview, unincorporated Jackson County, or across the state lines.
Even with the moratorium, the federal government has vast authority to override local ordinances through eminent domain and the Supremacy Clause.