Planned protests of Kenner police shooting of Armond Jairon Brown draws national attention
4th June 2018 · 0 Comments
By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer
Protests of the Kenner police shooting of Armond Jairon Brown are planned for June 7 and 14 to bring attention to police racial profiling and the resulting violence racial minorities like Brown endure because of it.
The Rev. Byron Clay, the former National President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, hopes that these rallies will force change in the practices and training of police departments throughout the nation — and highlight the fact that police in Kenner treat white suspects differently than Blacks, a truth ostensibly proven just two weeks after Brown’s death.
Joining with Dr. Martin Luther King’s nephew Isaac Farris and other civil rights leaders, Rev. Clay will lead a 1960s-style peaceful sit-in on June 7 at 5 p.m. at Kenner City Hall, and a rally near the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge on June 14 at 2 p.m., to protest the killing of Brown, whom he calls an “aspiring young minister” whose “life was unnecessarily taken from him at the hands of the Kenner Police.”
Jairon Brown suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. On January 23, 2018, the 25-year-old man refused all pleas to exit his home, arming himself with kitchen knives. Brown’s brother reportedly told the assembled officers that Brown had “limited” sleep, and was suffering delusions, but was not dangerous to others.
The police on hand opened the unlocked, but closed, front door, and reportedly saw Brown in the front foyer armed with two knives. He would not respond verbally to the officers, and did shut the door on them.
Ignoring the policemen’s further demands that he come outside, the officers called in Kenner’s SWAT team. They opened the door again and fired what Kenner Chief Michael Glaser called an “impact munition,” or a non-lethal projectile made up of hard sponge material.
When Brown still would not disarm or exit, though he had not directly threatened the officers, they entered a third time—firing two rounds into Brown’s abdomen. The delusional man stood his ground in his home. Then, the officer used a TASER on Brown, with no effect. Finally, the Kenner police fired tear gas into the home, at last forcing the 25-year-old out again by the attending policemen, but these non-lethal weapons did not stop the young man, energized as he was in a bipolar manic phase. Nor did Brown let go of the knives.
Despite promising the family and assembled friends that they would not use lethal force, a Kenner police officer fired his gun four times, hitting Brown in the leg, groin, and abdomen, ultimately killing him.
The police officer in question claimed self-defense, a position so far endorsed by Kenner Chief Michael Glaser.
Brown’s family has strongly disagreed with the finding, and since Kenner policemen do not wear body cameras, no digital record exists to clear up the controversy.
Clay emphasized the general opinion of the assembled spectators and family—that the Kenner policemen drastically overreacted.
“This was a Christian young man. He was very athletic. He was academically motivated. He came from a family that is full of integrity and character. He was a student at Southeastern University [of Louisiana] where he had entered a degree program in medicine and electrical engineering. He has received countless numbers of awards from around the community. In fact, he was selected by Councilman Marc Johnson to be a representative for the City of Kenner in the [Young] Astronaut program, and went to Washington as a representative” of that program, Clay explained.
“This young man’s life was taken away from him in the presence of his parents and more than a hundred witnesses when the officers promised that they would not kill him. That they would use rubber bullets. And, now he has gone. He is no longer with us. You haven’t heard much about it, across the nation and across the state. So we are escalating it, and informing the country of an ideal youth who had his life taken away from him by an officer who was overzealous. And, obviously in the opinion of the community, there was a cover-up.”
“So, Martin Luther King’s nephew, Isaac Farris, whose mother was the only sister of Dr. King, is going to be here and be the keynote speaker for this great coming together. And what we are trying to do is not only highlight the injustice and unfair treatment of person’s of color, but we also want to promote some peace, some understanding, and some healing in the community.”
The major rally, featuring this nephew of Dr. Martin Luther King and the brother of the Rev. Al Sharpton as speakers, will take place at the AZ Young Park, 800 North Third St., Baton Rouge, 2 p.m. on June 14, 2018. With assembly in the park, which sits just below the La. State Capitol near the historic Pentagon Barracks, seeks as Rev. Clay put it, “To draw the attention of the media to a tragic shooting by police that has been ignored so far” as well as to the plight of African Americans facing police departments “that have a culture of violence” against minorities. It is the latter attitude in which Clay has called for “a campaign of education to combat those attitudes.”
This rally will come just a week after a smaller event at Kenner City Hall, 1801 Williams Blvd. on Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 5 p.m.
Local clergy will lead a “peaceful sit in” of the suburban city government building to draw attention to the Brown shooting. As Clay explains, “We want to say to them, ‘We are aware. We are cognizant… that this young man’s life was taken away from him by an overzealous police department.’” Both events are open to the public, and Clay urges those who wish “to fight injustice” to attend.
“Racism is still real. We can’t make anybody love us, but we certainly can make them accountable,” he said. “Racial profiling is real. It happens all across the nation, especially to people of color. And there seems to be a different kind of response when it happens in other racial communities or to the upper class or to the upper grades… When they’re white, there’s a different response.”
Clay noted that a week after the Brown shooting, “The police were called in to an upperclass white neighborhood where they went to arrest a teenager, and it just so happened that the teenager’s guardian had a gun, and shot it into the ground. But, they never shot him!”
“[W]e are not suggesting that ANYBODY be killed. That anybody be shot because there is always a better way to handle things…[W]hat we are suggesting that there needs to be some reform. There needs to be some changes in policies and practices. And, I think while we do have some great police officers across the nation, who love their job and take their work seriously; but, there are still some who [have] hearts filled with hate and racial bias. And, they need to be removed, and they need to be fired. And those who are good officers, we need to continue to hold them accountable, and then also provide them more effective training on how to respond to people.”
This article originally published in the June 04, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
