Real Change: Activists Call for Knox County Schools to Address Racial Disparities That Led to the Killing of Anthony Thompson Jr.
The students and families of East Knoxville have been in mourning for the past several weeks since the killing of 17-year-old Anthony Thompson Jr., by a Knoxville PD officer, at Austin East Magnet High School. A wreath of flowers and plush teddy bears decorate the door of the bathroom Thompson died in, as tribute to him. Students have been circulating the hashtag “#LLANT” in his memory as well.
The remaining semester has only been harder on the students, who are forced to continue their classes ‘business as usual’, while their teachers are quitting, parents are afraid for their safety, and the school board officials do nothing.
“They see these kids being troubled and having a hard time, they know some of these kids’ history at home, and yet still don’t talk to them,” said Aliane Muhoza, a senior at Central High School. “They label them as criminals and kill them, and then they don’t call it a murder, they call it an accident. They need to own up to it, and these officials need to do something about it.”
Activists with the non-profit organization Black Coffee Justice have been fighting for justice for what happened to Thompson, as the Knoxville Police Department has changed their account of what happened repeatedly, and information officers gave of the situation later being proven false (for example, KPD’s original report stated an officer was wounded by a gun Thompson had fired, before it was revealed the officer had shot himself).
“The community has to suffer through all of it- they [the community] knows what’s best for them, because they’re the ones being affected” Muhoza said. “Less police officers need to be in the school, and they need to put in more counselors. These kids have no outlet.”
But there was hope — on Tuesday, April 27, a committee meeting was held at Fulton High School in order to address the racial disparity in public education, and how Knox County Schools would work to fix these issues in order to prevent incidents where discriminatory policy causes death to Black students.
“Now, I see more opportunities in our school systems than I had before,” said David Hayes, a local activist who is currently running for Knoxville City Council in District One. “Hopefully, we can continue putting pressure on the streets and doing things like this — it’s gonna actually get some stuff done.”
However, activists and students alike were disappointed with the meeting’s proceedings.
“They just said the usual politician thing, ‘we’re gonna listen’,” Hayes continued. “So, we tried to move it to, ‘okay, well we want some tangible things’, and what we all realized there is that they weren’t taking us seriously.”
Initially, the beginning of the meeting’s agenda promised the public solutions in all facets of the county schools and how they run, with feedback and questions by all attendees being heard and given answers. There was first a general assembly that then split off into ‘breakout groups’ the people there could sign up to attend.
However, the problems started in one breakout group that was focused on reforming the Knox County Schools’ methods for discipline, and the racism many students have faced because of it. During this meeting, the school board’s Chief of Staff, Renee Kelly, was visibly laughing and refusing to hear out the public’s concerns that were raised.
On top of that, Superintendent Bob Thomas and other members of the board attempted to have a closed-door meeting unavailable to the public during the public event, which caused the activists present to distrust any promises of transparency and taking the public’s suggestions into account.
“They’ve just patted themselves on the back for even having this meeting today,” Hayes said. “They weren’t even prepared to talk about Anthony Thompson Jr.; it just shows that they’re not actually committed to real change.”
The community does not want empty promises that their officials will ‘listen’ to their thoughts; they want to actually address the problems and work out solutions in order to prevent needless deaths by rooting out policies designed to work against Black students. Some of the more tangible reforms the activists discussed include reforming disciplinary policy away from punitive methods that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, as well as getting rid of police presence in schools, as there have been multiple cases nationwide of Black students being criminalized by the school’s police.
Further action is being planned to be taken to the Knoxville City Council, as Black Coffee Justice organizers are urging Knoxville citizens who want to hold the police and city accountable to show up to the April 29 City Council Meeting to speak out. The meeting takes place at 5 p.m., and those who want to speak are able to sign up by emailing the City Recorder Office here, or also have the option to call them at 865–215–2075.
In addition to that, on the first of May, at 12 p.m., there will be a Political Power Rally at Suttree Landing Park in Knoxville, which Hayes is encouraging citizens who care about helping the community to attend in support. The address is 1001 Waterfront Drive, and Hayes, along with campaigners like Deidra Harper and Jen McMahon, who will be giving their State of the Community addresses.
