NC- White police force quits, refuses to work for a black woman

[RAB910]

Less than a week after the entire police department in Kenly, N.C., announced their resignation, citing a “toxic” and “hostile” work environment, elected officials from the town of about 2,000 residents have gone silent on a plan for law enforcement moving forward. The July 20 mass resignation of the department’s police chief, four full-time officers and two town clerks, who are all white, came less than two months after the town hired a new town manager, who is Black, leaving many critics to question whether race was at the core of the department’s sudden collapse.

Justine Jones, who has worked for 16 years in local governments in Minnesota, Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina, was selected to be town manager after a "nationwide search" of 30 candidates, according to a town press release. She began the job on June 2.

Kenly is 36% Black, 20% Hispanic and 36% non-Hispanic white.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/a-north-carolina-city-hired-a-black-town-manager-then-its-entire-police-force-resigned-224423896.html

[onecaliberal]

1. Yeah it's definitely not about race.

[DakotaSnow]

27. In an odd way

I'm kinda OK with this. They just self-identified as individuals you don't want on a police force, quit, and the town can now hire in people who better represent the town. A fresh start from scratch. The silver lining is this is a golden opportunity.

[onecaliberal]

31. Oh I agree the outcome is the best possible thing that could have happened for the city.

They can hire competent people there to do a job.

[Srkdqltr]

2. Well aren't they special.

[aeromanKC]

3. Time to hire 8 new Officers.

All minority.

[milestogo]

4. Yup.

[RobertDevereaux]

5. FAR MORE such monsters should vacate the stage and crawl the fuck back under their rocks.

[Marcuse]

6. Hire new staff and investigate closed and cold cases.

[RAB910]

7. yeah, it's scary to think just how much abuse of power has gone on in this department

[Midnight Writer]

8. The town's police chief was a special guest on FOXNews last night (Ingraham show)

From the little I was able to stomach, the police chief is suing the town?

Laura Ingraham is shocked, just shocked, that these white policemen should have to take orders and criticism from a black woman.

Look for the police chief to become a new RW media star.

We are living in interesting times.

[RAB910]

10. Reading the title- "of course he was" FOX "news" is the racist channel of choice

[Bettie]

23. He is suing the town over his CHOICE

to quit rather than do his job without bias?

[Iggo]

9. ...in a 60% non-white community.

[peggysue2]

11. Kenly is according to the 2020 census a minority/majority town

Whites represent less than 50% in a town of approx 2300 people. This, I suspect, is a battle against the present and the future. Not only is Justine Jones of mixed race but she's a woman, a double whammy to fragile, police culture egos.

Demographics is playing a big part in right-wing discourse and panic modes, the whole replacement theory discourse.

Solution?

Replace the police chief and officers.

[MichMan]

12. The previous Town Manager was also Black

Yet the police didn't resign then.

[FSogol]

13. So? Misogyny is better than racism somehow? Why defend them? n/t

[MichMan]

15. I dont automatically accuse people of racism with zero proof

It seems to me that for multiple people to all quit at once, there may be other factors, other than race or misogyny at play.

[RAB910]

18. you didn't exactly tell the whole story

there was a town manager who was black (and corrupt as sin) who the police supported and tried to cover up his crimes for, but he left back in 2020

[MichMan]

20. And that proves they are racist...?

Makes perfect sense

[RAB910]

21. resigning enforce when a black woman takes over sure seems that way

not sure what essentially amounts to the "some of my best friends are black" defense is going to offer much in the way of cover

[Sympthsical]

22. Interferes with the narrative

I am super curious about this. As you noted, they didn't have a problem with the previous black town manager.

What I want to know - because I'm a stickler for information - is what the conflict is about. Did she implement new oversights? For example, did she mandate body cams when they didn't have them before? What were her asks that they feel so strongly against that they're resigning?

No one is talking, so it's impossible to understand what motivated it. Literally the only information given in the article is race, so that's what we're going with here.

I wonder if she was introducing reforms, and the department balked. Reading between the lines, it certainly sounds like something like that. If we had that information, we could better determine if and to what extent the police are being total shitheels.

But without any information whatsoever to go on. "Fuck it. They're racists." I mean, maybe. But why her and not the previous manager? What's the story here?

People are so incurious to learn any further about a narrative they were just so overtly and blatantly spoon fed.

[MichMan]

30. Unfortunately that is par for the course here way too often

Ordinarily, without knowing the race of anyone involved, a mass resignation of employees would be taken as clear proof that the manager was a bully and the employees would be praised for standing up to "the man"

Switch the races around, and the manager would be the one accused of being a racist white supremist, while the police would be lauded for their courage for refusing to work for an oppressive bigot.

No one knows what led to a mass resignation in this case, but generally those occur very infrequently, and are quite unusual. Almost always it indicates a management problem, as long term employees don't ordinarily all quit their jobs because they are wrong and the new boss is right.

[Sympthsical]

32. If I were a speculating person

Given the new manager's experience and the geographical location of her previous jobs, she wanted to introduce reforms on a location/system that was perfectly content with the way things have always been done. Even though, as the article cites, the Black community there was not necessarily all that happy with the way things were always done.

So she comes in with some pretty abrupt changes, they don't like it, and it goes south fast.

There's actually a very similar situation happening in San Francisco at the moment. Chesa Boudin, the DA, was recalled, and the mayor appointed Brooke Jenkins, a black woman, to replace him until the next election.

Well. It has gone full on cage match.

https://news.yahoo.com/san-francisco-district-attorney-cleans-214229501.html

Jenkins wants to change the way things are done in the office, and she's not using a light touch. However, no one's implicating her race or sex in it. There are two very opposing views within the DA's office about how crime and justice should function. It's been a total brawl, and progressives are not necessarily siding with Jenkins on this.

This story brought that situation to mind. When the new boss and the old employees have very different ideas of how things should be, things can fall apart quickly.

[FSogol]

14. Good riddance. Request help from state police until a new force can be hired. n/t

[lame54]

16. Transfer her from town to town - clean house

[elias7]

25. Great idea

[Hassin Bin Sober]

17. Does this town have a bank?

[inthewind21]

19. Gee

ya think?

[BlackSkimmer]

24. The previous town manager was black also.

Unfortunately he had to resign due to "improprieties."

[BlueIdaho]

26. Fine and dandy...

They can say good bye to those sweet pensions and get themselves a job with Uber.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. If ads I see on Facebook are any indication, I'll bet they have no problem finding work.

Also, the pensions are probably underwritten by the state or otherwise carry over.

[eleny]

29. She found some shit and they all quit nt