When 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King made a spectacle of a teenaged girl on a field trip, he undermined the system he's supposed to serve.
Detroit judge who threatened sleepy teen with jail sends message to Black community
It’s bad enough that young Black folks nationally are disproportionately jailed. Now Detroit has a judge who threatened a teen with jail time for falling asleep.
And now we wonder why Black teenagers — and their older peers — don’t trust the court system to deliver justice. We wonder why so many don’t believe law enforcement will deal fairly with them, and why they run from police.
The Black Lives Matter movement is not only about abuse during arrests, but extends to justice in courtrooms throughout America, both the punishment of criminal cops and justice for those unfairly imprisoned alike.
And I’m sure that many Black folks, watching this kangaroo court on YouTube, couldn’t have faith in our justice system.
If - while he's still innocent and not yet proved guilty - they didnt pay him, and either he appealed or something reversed or delayed the charges, he'd have a case that they tried to make him quit or that lawsuits - even the frivolous ones - are punitive.
So paying a guy while he's removed from duty pending an investigation is 99% shitty and also the least-worse thing to do at the same time.
He was temporarily removed from his criminal cases while he undergoes training. Technically yes, he was "removed from the bench" but that is misleading as it makes it seem like he was fired, which he was not.