This week, a 15-year-old Black girl was handcuffed and made to wear a jail jumpsuit after she fell asleep in the Detroit courtroom of dishonorable Judge Kenneth King. Oh, he also did not like her attitude. As the child stood handcuffed at the same podium, in the same position as many who had been arrested, the judge barked at her, “You sleep at home in your bed, not in court.”
According to the girl’s mother, they do not have a home. Due to their lack of permanent housing, the girl was exhausted because they had not secured sleeping arrangements until late the previous night. The callous interaction was captured on the courtroom’s live stream and CCTV, where the girl can be heard saying, “I apologize, I’m just tired.” Immediately after, the judge responded, “you do know, we have a jail for kids.”
Yes, even though she verbally apologized, he still immediately threatened her with detention.
The Judge is a Black man and a mentor to Black male youth, according to his Facebook page and since-deleted page on the Wayne State Law School website, where he also teaches. While his mentoring for young Black male children may be sincere, it seems he has a tougher time extending that grace to young Black girls, who find themselves coming from the same poverty and lack of resources that many of his mentees may face. Everyone is human, but so is the girl in question; having an attitude is not a crime, and sleeping definitely is not. He used his power to punish a child because he felt entitled to her attention. Surely, if you are speaking to someone, you would want their attention but teenagers sleep A LOT and it is not as if sleeping is more voluntary than it is compulsory. You cannot control being tired; no one would rightfully choose to be exhausted. While he is worthy of respect at his job, he must also remember, it is not like going to a courtroom is the most adrenaline-inducing field trip. The field trip was part of a three-week program with the non-profit, The Greening of Detroit, and according to its website, the organization is “focused on enhancing the quality of life for Detroiters by planting trees, providing job training and involving our youth in the education of the natural environment.”
This is an environmental organization, not a diversion program for badly behaved teens.
A Detroit nonprofit hosted a field trip at the 36th District Court so students could learn about the legal system, when a sleeping teenager during the visit ended up in a jail uniform, handcuffs and in front of Judge Kenneth King because of her “attitude” inside his courtroom.… pic.twitter.com/3bBpCseUVU
— WXYZ Detroit (@wxyzdetroit) August 14, 2024
“That was my own version of scared straight,” and that he did not like her attitude was how he defended his actions in an interview after the incident. He also claimed that he wanted to teach her a lesson so that she would not be in his courtroom in the future. Being a judge is a balance between being unbiased and having compassion—neither were displayed in this incident. In his attempts to teach her said lesson, not only did he leave the minor traumatized, but he also showed a gross abuse of power and that the law is something you make up as you go along. He accused the girl of laughing and mocking when she was woken up the second time, however there is no footage of his accusations found before print.
Keep 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King away from children. The man does not understand the proper limits of his power and position. He should be censured for his behavior. The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission can be reached at (313) 875-5110.#CensureKennethKing https://t.co/Shz7ZFDXb0
— 👑 VegasKing 👑 (@VegasKing_Live) August 14, 2024
Either way, handcuffing and making a young girl wear a jumpsuit because you did not like her attitude or that she was sleeping is problematic on so many levels. Being a mentor, he should already be aware that Black kids are more likely to receive harsher punishments than their White counterparts and are more likely to lack resources, which was the case here. Being sleepy and having an attitude are not crimes at any age. He may have felt she was being disrespectful, and she very well may have been, but he never asked her to leave his courtroom. Instead, he decided to make a mockery of not only his own profession but of the justice system as a whole, a system that already financially thrives off the incarceration of Black people and gets its blood from the school-to-prison pipeline.
The judge has since been removed from his courtroom, a maneuver he could have just as easily asked of the young girl.
