The Community Oversight Board (COB) received four new members – all bringing similar perspectives and agendas concerning police. Metro Nashville City Council voted on the nominees during a meeting on Tuesday.
None of the nominees from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) – former mayoral candidate Dr. Carol Swain, former FOP President Mark Wynn, community members Mary Byrd and Brandy Holloway – were selected. Of all the votes cast, Holloway received no votes, Byrd only received one, Swain only received two, and Wynn received ten.
During last week’s interview meeting for the nominees, Swain was the only nominee whose qualifications were objected to by the council’s Committee on Rules, Confirmations, and Public Elections.
Those confirmed were previous COB member Arnold Hayes, retired judge Joe Brown, previous campaign worker for Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) Makayla McCree, and Representative Pramila Jayapal’s (D-WA-07) Health Policy Director Dr. Stephanie Kang.
All four of these members present similar perspectives focused on many of the same social justice ideologies.
In December, Hayes authored an op-ed in The Tennesseean describing how there needed to be greater investigation into “police accountability and systemic racism.” He also accused the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) of racism, sexism, and homophobia.
“This current climate calls on us to take the offensive,” wrote Hayes. “The moderate says obey the law, but they are not the victims of police brutality. The privileged say be patient, but protesting doesn’t mean death for them.”
Brown emphasized during last week’s interview meeting that he’d done many civil rights violations cases against police officers throughout his career.
McCree has a storied history on social justice activism, of which she informed the council. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, McCree attended the Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Nashville last June.
https://twitter.com/MakaylaMcCree/status/1266343576625205248
During her interview, Kang noted that there hadn’t been sufficient representation from the Asian-Pacific Islander community on the board in the past, and she could contribute that. She’s also been a vocal supporter of abolishing the death penalty and the idea that systemic racism is a public health crisis.
The COB was created through a referendum in 2018. According to Amendment 1, the board’s founding purpose was to investigate allegations of police misconduct, propose remedies to police accountability, and issue reports on public safety and justice. In the past year, the board has aided in the selection of a replacement police chief and issued three reports on modifying law enforcement tactics, such as chokeholds and no-knock warrants.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Nashville City Hall” by Nicolas Henderson. CC BY 2.0.
Vote out the mayor and council !!
To claim that one must be either an ally or enemy is to create the fallacy of “False Dichotomy”. In this case, it possible to be a “neutral” person, not wanting to be involved either way. Not only is the “false dichotomy” a logical flaw, it basically sets the constructor to fail.
“Social Justice” is neither social or just. Period.
What percentage of the MNPD has left since the COB was formed? Ten Percent? Fifteen percent?
What’s the matter? Do you have a problem with social justice?
Yes. The “social justice” promoted has nothing to do with social justice. Its nothing more than a smoke screen .
How many more clowns can they fit into the clown car that Nashville has become?
I am so glad I moved out of Davidson County last year. The democraps still don’t get it and never will. Excuses for poor behavior and entitlement programs that have little, if any, success are the a sad joke. The guvment is not going to save you, folks.
Get ready to defend yourself , because you will be getting no assistance from the police department. Either way it goes , there will be SJWs trying to defund the police department , or else be waiting to harass and threaten them for every move they make – chalk up a victory for crime in Nashville.
Social justice is a socialist construct which negates the idea of fairness or justice for the individual.
In the social justice construct, the collective group and its perceived positive or negative traits is elevated over each member’s actual character or actions. For example, all members of the Proud Boys can be reviled as Nazis and all members of BLM can be celebrated as noble and courageous, whereas some individual members of the Proud Boys may be decent, law abiding people and some members of BLM may be violent criminals, or vice versa.
Social justice denies the rights of the individual to be judged on the actual facts and is antithetical to the idea of “liberty and justice for all.”
At least that gadfly Carol Swain is disappearing. No money to be given here
nashville is headed the way of seattle
The Metro Council what useless political pawns. COB is the pro criminal anti police board, another useless group!