‘I could end up a hashtag’: Black men in Johnson County talk routine hassles, fears

Ron Lackey was relaxing in his Overland Park home one day when six police officers in four squad cars arrived to arrest him — for an unpaid speeding ticket.

That’s really it — all that fuss for his absent-minded failure to respond to a letter about a ticket. He quickly learned they sent so many officers because of the description on his driver’s license: 6-2 and 350 pounds.

He figures it didn’t help that he’s also Black.

Lackey is one of five Black Johnson County men who recount similar episodes of unfortunate, and sadly routine, police interactions in YouTube videos by the Advocacy and Awareness Group Johnson County. The new group is in dialogue with local leaders on how to make the county more welcoming to minorities, and plans to add four more videos to the series in coming weeks, and more video projects after that.

While there are no George Floyd horror stories in them, the five videos by accomplished local videographer Sam Tady are eye-opening and quietly alarming — especially for folks who may not know Black men to whom such things happen.

Another of the series’ interviewees, Dante Lee of Merriam, recalls how he was pulled over after making a legal turn, and was kept there for an extended round of various sobriety tests while several of the six officers made jokes and appeared to try to get a rise out of him.

Lee already carried wounds from childhood. While playing for a youth basketball team, Lee and others heard an adult from an opposing team accuse his team of engaging in “aggressive (n-word) ball.” He just thought they were merely playing their hardest. “It scarred me for a long time,” he says.

Despite that past hurt, and thanks to warnings from his father, Lee endured the police incident without an “attitude” that could’ve escalated matters. Still, he says, “From then on, I just realized no matter how good I am it’s still not going to be good enough.”

Johnson County videos on race “enlightening, not threatening”

Everyone should watch these short vignettes. Those who feel they’ve been browbeat this year by reports of racial inequities will be encouraged to know these videos are neither preachy nor angry nor complaining. They just are — like the experiences of everyday hassles, insults and fears they relate.

Indeed, Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez, who said he’s seen several of the videos, praised them and Advocacy and Awareness Group Johnson County, as well as its founder Linnaia McKenzie. Though the topic is more about law enforcement generally, and certainly not just Overland Park or Johnson County or even Kansas City, “those messages need to resonate throughout the profession,” he said.

Likewise, Paul Lyons, chair of the Overland Park City Council Public Safety Committee, thinks the videos are worthy of wide attention.

“I think the videos are excellent,” Lyons told The Star. “I see it as enlightening, not threatening. All of those who have participated so far had a compelling experience that helps highlight that we have a long way to go to make our community welcoming for everybody.”

Overland Park, Roeland Park dialogues on race starting

As for Lackey’s traumatic experience, Lyons says, “As a white person, I could never imagine that I would have six police officers showing up at my door because I failed to pay a speeding ticket. I have never experienced anything like that.”

Says McKenzie: “We do, as a community, need to come together and start thinking about what concrete things need to happen in order for our community to start to change.”

Lyons, McKenzie and Donchez all say their mutual dialogue on race relations in Overland Park is on a positive, promising track. McKenzie says her group is expanding its outreach to Roeland Park, and then other cities as well as the county level.

“I appreciate what Linnaia and her group are doing,” says Johnson County Commissioner Janeé Hanzlick. “They are identifying goals and solutions, organizing community conversations, and building collaboration that includes law enforcement and a broad spectrum of the community. Unlike some other groups, they are focused on accomplishing achievable, specific and sustainable goals.”

While his own most-vexing experience with police occurred in Waterloo, Iowa, Roeland Park’s Haile Sims recounts it in one of the videos. He was stopped for no reason while driving a newly purchased Lincoln Town Car with a temporary tag. “The police officer literally just pulled me over and made me prove that I owned the vehicle that I was driving,” Sims says.

That might not seem like much — but it sure says a lot. And the Advocacy and Awareness Group’s videos prove it’s not a unique insult against Black Americans. That’s why Sims is part of the group, as well as the freshly minted Roeland Park Police Policy Review Committee.

Sims says he’s having the same conversations about police with his 17-year-old that his parents had with him.

“I want to make sure that 20 years from now I’m not having these same discussions with my grandchildren,” Sims says. “Let’s fix it now. Let’s not wait. Let’s not do it halfway.”

One wrong move, one jittery officer, could make such situations tragic.

“I could wind up being just a hashtag, even though I haven’t done anything wrong,” Sims says.