Washington CNN  —  The Louisville Metro Police Department routinely uses excessive force and practices “an aggressive style of policing” against Black people, the Justice Department said Wednesday after an investigation launched following the botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor. The scathing assessment paints a shocking portrait of racist and abusive conduct in the Louisville police that harkens to practices more commonly seen in some southern cities during the civil rights era. Investigators identified a pattern of police leaders in recent years commissioning reports that documented disproportionate violence directed toward African Americans and ignoring the findings or burying the internal reports. The abuses extended to the treatment of the disabled and even sex assault victims. “For years, LMPD has practiced an aggressive style of policing that it deploys selectively, especially against Black people, but also against vulnerable people throughout the city,” the report said. “LMPD cites people for minor offenses, like wide turns and broken taillights, while serious crimes like sexual assault and homicide go unsolved,” the report added. “Some officers demonstrate disrespect for the people they are sworn to protect. Some officers have videotaped themselves throwing drinks at pedestrians from their cars; insulted people with disabilities; and called Black people ‘monkeys,’ ‘animal,’ and ‘boy.’” Louisville police use “unreasonable tactics” including unjustified neck restraints, police dogs and tasers, DOJ found. The report also found that the police department executes search warrants without knocking and announcing. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the results of the investigation Wednesday. “This conduct is unacceptable. It is heartbreaking. It erodes the community trust necessary for effective policing and it is an affront to the vast majority of officers who put their lives on the line every day to serve Louisville with honor,” Garland said at a news conference. “And it is an affront to the people of Louisville who deserve better.”

Dozens of arrests fueled speculation that the Hawaiian shirt-wearing, gun-loving anti-government group was done for. But it seems they’d merely gone underground and appear to be angrier than ever.

THIS SATURDAY AT the Blaffer Museum, Houston award-winning, queer contemporary choreographer and community leader Rivkah French presents Twisting Through Secrets, a cross-disciplinary, multimedia extravaganza featuring a variety of dance, drag, spoken word, and ukulele-playing performers. Twisting Through Secrets takes its inspiration from two current Blaffer exhibits: Dallas-based painter Leslie Martinez’s new painting series The Secrecy of Water and video artist Jacolby Statterwhite’s 3D animated epic We Are In Hell When We Hurt Each Other. Beginning at 7pm, the Blaffer space will be activated by live music and dance theater from Angie Uhegwu (a.k.a. S.O.U.L.A.S.P.H.E.R.E); neo-futurist dance by French with Margo Smolik; spoken-word poetry by Ayokunle Falomo; contemporary movement combined with martial arts, and breaking by Persi Mey and guests; and what is described as “a sickening blend of drag glamour, drama, and camp” by bearded beauty and OutSmart magazine fave drag emcee Blackberri. Martinez’s large-scale, tactile paintings, which incorporate rocks, scraps, and recycled materials, speak to the artist’s trans, non-binary identity, as well as their childhood experiences traveling from the Rio Grande Valley of the South Texas-Mexico border to Dallas, and crossing one of most dangerous Customs and Border Patrol checkpoints in the United States. Satterwhite’s video transforms the artist’s dance movements — evoking ballroom culture and vogueing — through digital bodysuits into animated Black fembot forms and other avatars and concludes with a tribute by a cadre of fierce femme warriors to Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old ER technician murdered by Louisville Police in March 2020. Preceding the Twisting Through Secrets performance are two community workshops. At 5pm, French leads a 30-minute meditation on the Blaffer exhibitions and performance themes. At 5:30, Mey leads a beginner-friendly, open-to-all “Weightshare Workshop” that will explore how to move (i.e. dance) as a group through queer-positive, non-gender specific partnering. Participants will learn how partnered dancers safely give and receive weight while remaining connected in performance. Visual artists are invited to bring drawing and painting supplies to either or both workshops and join in the creativity. From Your Site ArticlesRelated Articles Around the Web

The series is open for members of the public and VCU community to explore VCU Health’s history and efforts to make healthcare more equitable. March 06, 2023 By Jayla ParkerVirginia Commonwealth University’s Office of Health Equity is excited to launch the History and Health; Racial Equity Series. This education module gives the VCU and VCU Health community opportunities for in-depth engagement and dialogue about our institutional history, reflection of how that history has influenced and shaped us and examination of the resulting impact on current health disparities.“As an academic health center that cares for a large constituency of Black and Brown patients, we have a unique responsibility to address legacies of bias and discriminatory practices, ” said Logan Vetrovec, director of education and research in the Office of Health Equity. What inspired VCU and VCU Health to create this series? The Office of Health Equity at VCU, started in 2021, aims to develop initiatives that introduce the principles of health equity into education, training, research and patient services.The creation of the History and Health; Racial Equity Series was essentially inspired by the protests against racism and police brutality towards African Americans in summer of 2020, following the murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.Slavery, segregation and race-based discrimination are topics often excluded from lessons taught on the history of medicine and healthcare, but the VCU Office of Health Equity recognizes how ignoring these parts of the past is a disservice to our future progress as a community. The purpose of this uncommon educational program Increasing awareness, supporting conversations that some may find “uncomfortable” and providing a safe space for everyone to be heard are all motives behind creating this series.The Office of Health Equity describes this program as an intentional approach to address substantial knowledge gaps in understanding the academic health center’s history and to facilitate an effective interface between diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and the burgeoning engagement of VCU’s past.“The series content was created by faculty and team members across the university and health system, drawing on the wealth of existing knowledge and expertise of partners at VCU Libraries, the East Marshall Street Well Project, the Humanities Research Center and others,” said Anne Massey, director of patient and community services in the Office of Health Equity. The History and Health; Racial Equity series has 11 topics with event recordings and learning modules: Fundamentals of Race & Racism Race, Space & Power in Richmond Virginia Medical Research and the First Heart Transplant in the South Coughing and Scoffing: Inequities in the Time of COVID-19 Assessing Structural Racism by Understanding St. Philip Hospital and School of Nursing Medical Dissection and the East Marshall Street Well Housing, History, and Health Structural Racism and the Food Environment The Roots of Institutional Racism: Medical College of Virginia Medical Racism Then & Now: When You Know Better, You Do Better - Racial Equity Symposium Mothers of Gynecology - Racial Equity Symposium This program gives all VCU and VCU Health employees as well as students and community members the opportunity to earn a History and Health; Racial Equity digital badge for participating. In addition, participants can satisfy annual VCU Health System DEI learning requirements and receive VCU Health continuing education credit by completing online learning modules.All of these free materials are available online at the VCU Office of Health Equity website. 

On Friday, Kentucky police showed a video from an officer’s body camera that showed a Louisville Metropolitan Police officer shooting at two teens during a trespassing call. Officer Brendan Kaiser can be seen with his [...]

Kentucky police released officer body camera video on Friday showing a Louisville Metropolitan Police officer shooting at two teenagers during a trespassing call.In the footage, released more than a week after the 20 February incident, officer Brendan Kaiser can be seen approaching the garage of a vacant property in Chicasaw with his gun drawn.“They could hear movement inside of the garage and had drawn their weapon because they did not know who was inside, how many people were inside, and whether the individuals were armed,” the department said in a news release accompanying the video.He realises there are people inside the building, and calls for an additional officer to arrive to the scene."They just tried to get out,” the officer says on his radio. “We’re going to have multiple people. I just shut the garage door on them. I got them trapped in. I think they’re probably trying to get out the window.”Suddenly, the doors of the garage fly open, and two teens begin to run away. As officer Kaiser approaches the pair, his gun goes off.The two youths at the scene say they were injured in the shooting and checked in at local hospitals. The LMPD, meanwhile, said there is reason to doubt this claim.Neither the officers nor the individual detained were hurt during the incident,” the agency said. “Also there were no evidence present at the scene that would’ve indicted that anyone had been injured.”Mr Kaiser, hired in 2016, is on administrative leave while the LMPD conducts an investigation of the incidentAttorneys for the injured teens say the officer has a long history of excessive uses of force."This officer has a history of red flag behavior," attorney Sam Aguiar told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "The department needs to explain immediately why his prior incidents didn’t prompt corrective action and training."In 2018, Mr Kaiser was exonerated for fatally shooting a man who, according to the LMPD, threw a knife at the officer, according to the paper.He was also admonished multiple times, including a brief suspension, for violating department policies are de-escalation and “innappropriate force” on a juvenile.In 2021, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into the Louisville police department, following outrage at the 2020 shooting of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot during a no-knock police raid.

D'Corey Johnson believes he has talent that can take him far. Now, he's taking steps to get there.The 10-year-old has performed the national anthem at NFL games. His song "Breonna Taylor," about a fellow Louisville native, is on streaming services, and you can see him on the stage this spring in a musical touring the country before he pursues a professional career.Before the world heard his voice, though, D'Corey — who also goes by D.C. — was just another 4-year-old singing in his church choir in Louisville, where his talent first stood out. He can remember testing his range, he said, and realizing he had the potential to go places."I was like 'Oh my Jesus, did I just really hit that high note?'" he said, looking back on his time in the choir. "I was like 'Yeah, I believe that I'm going to be a star.'"'Our park':For 100 years, this Olmsted park fostered generations of Black LouisvilliansD'Corey's mother enrolled him in theater classes at the Louisville Central Community Center, a West End organization that helps people develop skills in fields including arts and academia. He earned a place in the program after performing "Who's Loving You" by the Jackson 5 for LCCC President and CEO Kevin Fields, who said the then-6-year-old's audition "knocked my socks off" and earned a standing ovation.The LCCC founded the Tiny Tykes, a performing arts program for preteens, to support D'Corey, who was too young to join other groups, and before long he was playing roles locally in musicals like "Aladdin," "Cats" and "Annie." Erica Denise Bledsaw, the LCCC's manager of youth education and fine arts between 2014 and 2019, said when she heard him sing, she saw the "old soul" shine."He sang with so much passion, so much conviction, like he'd been here before," she said. "And I had never seen anything like it in such a small body and in such a small package."His first big break came during morning announcements at Bates Elementary. The principal of his school asked him to sing the national anthem on the intercom for the school one day and posted the video online with his mother's permission.The clip went viral, and soon, pro teams and others came calling. He sang the anthem at Nissan Stadium in Nashville before a 2022 game between the Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants, for instance, and performed "Lift Every Voice And Sing" in honor of Black History Month at state Capitol last year. He got a legislative citation by Sen. Gerald Neal when he sang in the Kentucky Senate."It is overwhelming, but it's fun. It's exciting. It's new," Nakia Johnson, his mother, said. "D'Corey, once he sung at school and he went viral, we haven't been on a slowdown since. He's been in great demand."Fields said D'Corey is "probably larger than life" and expects to see him on the big stage someday. He's already had a few brushes with fame, meeting Mario Lopez at a boxing match in 2021 and meeting Nick Cannon the same year at Globe Life Field in Texas.His chance could be coming soon, with a key role this spring in Hits! The Musical, which features music from different eras with Dionne Warwick as executive producer. He'll be back in his hometown on April 8 for a show at the Brown Theatre along with fellow Louisville native Karsen Taylor, who also has a role in the show.Plan ahead:Sewer work will close several road blocks by NuLu and downtown Louisville until summerD'Corey has big plans for his future. He said after the tour his family is planning to move to California, where he hopes his budding career takes off. Someday, he wants to perform on Broadway and in movies for platforms like Disney+ and Netflix."He's always been hungry for entertainment and for performing," Bledsaw said. "And so as long as he stays focused, and continues to get the training, necessary to hone his craft, and continues to work hard at it, the sky's the limit for D.C."And through enrolling him in classes to moving to Los Angeles for movie and TV auditions, his mother said she's committed to helping him reach that potential. His voice, she said, is "always for all people.""D.C. is always for all people. And when he open up his voice, you see no color. D.C. brings everybody together," Johnson said. "You have a 10-year-old child they can make grown men cry, and this says a lot."Reach Ana Rocío Álvarez Bríñez at [email protected]; follow her on Twitter at @SoyAnaAlvarez.