This page was originally published on May 17, 2023 at 6:34 PM after a colleague tried to manipulate the board members of the Kentucky Alliance into allowing her to continue working behind the scenes in powerful roles, furthering the WS agendas of Mitch McConnell, Daniel Cameron and Brent McKim. One of the tactics she has used successfully on multiple occasions is to bring my reputation or motives into question in an effort to avoid accountability for her own role in the latest fiasco. Because this has happened so often, after the last falling out we had in previous years, I refused to be in a meeting or on a call with her where there were no witnesses present. I also began recording every call or conversation we had.
On September 19, 2023, after yet another dramatic display that somehow resulted in my name once again being dragged through the mud and hate messages started filling the inbox, I came across one of these recordings that dated back to 2021. Incredulous that she was still getting away with these shenanigans, I shared it with one of the Black women who serves on the Kentucky Alliance board with me, who has been a victim, witness and suffered collateral damage from every one of these blow ups that appeared to come out of the blue, and which were based on a huge fundamental lie that was easily disproven by anyone who took the time to ask questions and examine the evidence. But she is a clever one, and she always knows how to find someone to fall on that dagger for her so she can, as they say in the book, “48 Laws of Power,” keep her hands clean.
In 2021, she manipulated another Black woman into calling for my resignation from the board. A vote was never taken, so that motion still looms, waiting to be seconded. I have repeatedly encouraged them to call for the vote, but I’m told to let it go, so I do. For that, I apologize, because countless harm has been allowed to occur due to these very public brohahas.
In 2023, it was a different Black woman, new to the Alliance board who said my name in a disparaging way, causing harm to the very women and children she and I have pledged to serve. This is a strong and respected woman who herself has been struggling with mental health issues as of late, due to the unspeakable gun violence and lives lost in her community. This is who she took advantage of when she got her to say my name in what was another lie she had fabricated to be able to turn eyes and attention away from the shady business being conducted by education leaders in cahoots. I can’t say whether or not the woman this page is about is in or it, or if she just likes the pats on the head they give her, but for her sake I hope it’s the latter.
Here is the call from 2021. Please see note at the end of this article.
It happened again.
On Friday, May 26, 2023 at approximately 7:45 AM, I received a call from one of the co-chairs of an organization on which I serve as a member of the Board. She was calling from a number I didn’t recognize, which she explained was her school phone. She is an ECE implementation coach, which is a non-instructional position in the district, meaning more flexible time to talk on the phone, if she chooses, as was evidenced by this day.
She seemed upset that our mutual friend and ally, who is also a teacher and a member of the board of the teachers union, was being defensive when all she was trying to do was ask questions. I told her I was packing my car for a 12 hour road trip ahead of a 9-month sabbatical from the United States. Our goal was to be on the road by noon and I was still cleaning, packing and loading my car. A renter is arriving in just a few days and the house needs to be left in a condition that I won’t need to return to it for 9 months. I didn’t really have time to answer questions that had already been asked and answered numerous times over, but keep getting thrown in our faces when we start to get a little to close for someone’s comfort.
I can’t honestly say I know who or what is at the head of the snake, or if there’s more than one involved, but I do recognize when the snake is shaking people down. And this is another one of those moments, so I take extra precautions for my safety, sanity and protection.
As is allowed by Kentucky law, I began to record the conversation. I have had too many past encounters with this particular teacher, who not only serves on both boards mentioned previously, but serves in an executive level. This means she is privy to more secrets and has a stronger potential to influence outcomes than a non-Executive board member.
I also started recording conversations with her when a witness could not be present because of all the times she has created chaos where none belonged, and not only didn’t support us, but actively derailed consensus-driven efforts to expose and/or unseat a white supremacist who illegally holds onto his power.
Our mutual friend and colleague was a victim to these activities. She and I and a number of our colleagues were witnesses. So for her to continue to ask the same questions over and over is disrespectful and triggering. It also is an abuse of power for her to do so using board communication channels that should be limited to high priority items and decisions, to mislead and play victim in order to skirt accountability. This is another reason to call for her to step down, in addition to the conflict of interest noted above.
Not to mention, these same teachers have been calling for an audit of the teachers union electronic balloting system. In my speech to the JCPS Board of Education Tuesday night, I called for an independent audit of the settlements and internal investigations. I also demanded all of their data on the juvenile justice system. I warned them, “There will be a lawsuit.”
The former chair of the Urban League of Louisville is under a great deal of scrutiny right now because the organization’s new leader and national chapter were calling for an audit, which resulted in a controversial firing and subsequent lawsuit. This climate of looking at each other’s messes and mistakes is not going away any time soon, so it would be foolish to leave anything open when we don’t have to. In fact, this is OUR moment to speak up and add our demands to the list. Here is the question that we must ask her,
Would she be willing to support a call for audits of these entities?
If not, why not? The only answer can be because you don’t support our shared mission and goals of the organization. I already know the answer, because I’ve watched you single-handedly and repeatedly throw the rock and hide the hand while our members’ consensus-driven, collective, hard work goes out the window. I’ve seen you pit your own sisters, allies and comrades against one another, while you stand in the spotlight and throw shade on the ones who brought you here, often kicking and fucking screaming. Others need to also see it for themselves. I can’t be the one to show them.
The Black women who I have been speaking with prior to her abusively persistent call are tired of dealing with it, as well, so I stop my activities and try to give her an honest, heartfelt answer. I thought we had a good call but judging by text messages sent around at 12:45 the following day, I must have been wrong.
Here is the first recording…
During our conversation, her other phone rang so she put me on hold. I’m messaging with one of the Black women in the mean time and she is telling me she is on with her. So I hang up.
She calls me back around 8:20 am. Here is the second recording…
On Saturday, May 27, I got a message from the Black female board member wondering why she’s already got this woman in her ear on this first morning of a holiday weekend. I tell her I think it has something to do with some exposures I’ve been working on, (and I still do).
But in the course of this conversation, the co-chair informs her that the board never voted on agreeing to be a fiscal sponsor for the Revolutionary Black Panther Party’s grant, even though the money has already been passed through our bank account with the knowledge and approval of all three co-chairs. This is a violation of our bylaws.
I state that I’m sure it’s fine, but we need to dot our i’s and cross our t’s since audits are coming for all of us. The Louisville Urban League’s national organization has requested an audit of their organization, JCTA members have been calling for an audit of their elections, I called for an audit of JCPS at the board meeting Tuesday night. We have to assume they will try to beat us to the punch and we cannot allow ourselves and the righteous causes and people we fight for to be destroyed by making avoidable careless mistakes. Who knows, this could have even been a trap!
The Black female I was speaking with was trying to enjoy her weekend and get caught up on long overdue chores and said she didn’t have the energy for it, but agreed we needed to vote on it as a board and do what needed to be done, even if after the fact, for everyone’s protection. I called the third co-chair, who appeared to be least involved with the grant being paid under duress and in the dark, to ask him to schedule a meeting for Monday at 6:30 PM. The former treasurer confirmed this was my right as a board member to do, as long as there was a second, which there was.
He kept hemming and hawing, seemingly afraid of the backlash he would endure from the other co-chairs, having to explain to them and others why were were “getting them in trouble” when that’s not the case at all. I reiterated the point of my outreach and that there was no negative connotations to be conveyed. We simply just realized we missed a step and now that we know about it, we need to fix it. Following the rules is how we stay out of trouble. We are trying to protect them and ourselves. We are on their side!
He’s still not convinced and we continue to dial the treasurer, when she finally answers. During the call, we also learn that the grant had just one signature, ours, and the co-chair in question had been the one to sign it a whole month prior. Another board meeting has come and gone. Why are we JUST NOW learning of this, AFTER the check has been cashed and passed on?
As a result of this violation of board policy and moving in secret, not only are board members exposed legally and financially, our trust has been violated. I expressed my concerns more sternly now, but only because I am forced to due to dragging of feet on behalf of the third co-chair, who also allowed this to happen and, at the end of the day, is equally responsible.
While we were on the phone, the board’s former treasurer was on the other line and he patched him through. He confirmed everything we had been saying and after considerable coercion, the third male co-chair agreed to call the meeting for Monday night with the treasurer as the second. We chose this date and time since it was a holiday weekend and we didn’t want to cut into the middle of people’s plans. We discussed how Monday is like this week’s Sunday and that evening would be a good time for responsible people who will be winding down and getting ready to return to work. People in a calm mood, including those who can help keep the meeting focused on the facts and not emotional responses or personal attacks are who we wanted on the call anyway. They agreed that we should have the request come from the co-chair and the treasurer, so it did. But when the email went out at 1:01 PM, the day had changed from Monday night to Sunday night, right smack dab in the middle of Memorial Day weekend. This felt like another intentional mistake to get attendance low or confusing for people, but I was told it was when they were available. I was not consulted even though I was who requested the meeting. Hopefully we have a quorum and hopefully everyone on the call is sober.
Anyway, another reason why this matters is because, back in April of 2020, I brought a $10,000 grant I was awarded based on a proposal I put together with the Louisville PTO to implement. It had been a million dollar proposal, but Latasha and I knew we could turn $10,000 into a million value if given the opportunity. But we were going to need every penny.
I approached the Alliance about serving as fiscal sponsor and everyone was supportive at first. But then, I was browbeat for not volunteering to give up 10% off the bat to a “poor” organization with $12,000 in the bank (when we are literally paying out of pocket because we have ZERO in the bank), and when we needed every dollar to reimburse our out of pocket expenses because we have our own bills to pay, and because we invested in up-front signage, literature and merchandise so we could hopefully generate more revenue to keep the campaign moving. Not to mention, I had two other fiscal sponsors waiting in the wings. This is how that call went. RIP Nancy Demartra.
I ended up taking the grant administration back to GLABSE, who was the initial choice, but we pivoted after we learned they were having trouble with renewing their non-profit status. After this debacle, GLABSE was back in business, so we finished dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s with them and they were able to reimburse me and pay off my obligations that I had put my own credit on the line for, and finish paying off the last of the bills I was able to keep at bay. I ended up allowing them to retain the balance at the end of the campaign, which was over $1,000, I believe.
Back to the message I was referring to that leads me to believe that our conversation was not as good as I thought. This busy mother, teacher and exec-level leader on multiple boards that are in our shared spaces, used our text message thread to jump in front of a concern I shared with her privately, which was part of a much longer conversation above. She must have seen her latest failure as a co-chair of the Alliance as enough of a threat to her position, she decided to poison the well so if she dies we all die.
The text message she sent to the thread of about 17 people essentially asked, did they think her serving on both the teachers union Board and our Board was a conflict of interest? “Someone” had said that to her recently, and she just wanted to do the right thing.
That someone was me.
She was referring to our conversation from yesterday above. Anyone who listens to the call all the way until the end can hear for themselves how that conversation came about. I did not say that a conflict of interest was the only reason I thought she shouldn’t serve on both executive boards, but it definitely is one of them. But it’s just one of many, including her poor meeting management skills, her inability to be authentic when moving in the work, her attacks and lies on me, which I thought we had moved past, but when doing the right thing goes against her for doing the wrong, her claws came back out.
I was disappointed to see so many trusting minds manipulated that way by one of our co-chairs. I will add manipulation of new officers to the list of reasons why I think she should step down.
But the biggest reason is because she has shown many of us on our board time and time again that when it is time to hold the white supremacist at the helm of the teachers union accountable, she is not willing. He has been rigging internal officer elections for 20 years or more. We caught him in the act with the BSK elections, even though she conveniently seems to forget that was even a thing. Otherwise, why would she keep calling me and asking the same questions over and over? We’ve told her all the reasons and when she keeps refusing to learn, she’s going to get the claws right back.
Here’s where we documented the election that was stolen from our fellow board member. Look at all of us who were witnesses who are sitting silently while this officer continues to disrespect her (and others of us in the process). I’m standing with Black women. Why isn’t she? Are you? You’ll need to pick a side. But be careful! Be sure to do your homework first.
One of our board members, who is a Black female teacher and an officer with the teachers union, has been trying to explain to her colleague, our Board co-chair, why teachers are demanding they switch to a more reliable election tabulation system. She cites, not only her experiences from 2021, but also more recently, where she can show here discrepancies in the numbers and even examples where evidence has been tampered with or destroyed. The co-chair tries to put me at odds with her by saying she and I disagree because I was pushing for paper ballots in the Peoples Agenda three years ago and she’s complaining that the paper doesn’t work.
Neither one works. That’s our point. But she wanted to focus on and even go on the attack against us, because I had pushed for returning to paper years ago and this last election, where paper ballots were used, there were some horrible examples of voter suppression and tampering with evidence, which she was beginning to play an increasingly suspicious role.
I asked for the emergency Board meeting because passing money through our organization with an implied responsibility is an exposure to each of us personally. It could put our 501(c)3 status in jeopardy if it’s not used in accordance with the grantee’s requirements, which is our organization’s responsibility to oversee. It’s also unfair to put all of this on our treasurer last minute, especially while she’s in school trying to teach!
After speaking with several board members, current and former, we finally agreed we needed to rectify the situation as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that would be an emergency board meeting. I simply wanted to get us together to pass a motion so we could be in compliance, but instead, there was resistance, intentional division, diversionary tactics and suspicious behavior, not to mention the initial violations that could be quite serious and could warrant a vote of no confidence in the current board. All I wanted to do was protect us after the fact, since we now had a $50,000 liability none of us had signed up for. But that’s not what some of us had in mind, and now I’m questioning everything.
Feeling very easily triggered at this point, but knowing I was a critical witness to the meeting, I pulled together some comfort foods and as much masking ability as I could muster after such a brutal attack from a so-called “sister” I got my motion ready and waiting for the appropriate moment. In the mean time, I emailed a draft of what I was intending to do to three other non-white female board members who were on the call and there was no indication that they disapproved or disagreed with anything I was saying or doing. In fact, it was quite the contrary, which is why I made the point that I am have been acting as an ally and an accomplice and putting my white body on the line so they don’t have to say the things to a bunch of seemingly mean-spirited people who seem to be focused on all the wrong things, infighting and not doing the work. In fact, taking time and energy and focus away from those who ARE doing the work. I am preparing to leave the country for nearly a year, and I’m still doing the work. See my speech to the JCPS Board Tuesday night. It was lit!
I made the following motion because it was an outer limit to what I was willing to accept without knowing more.
I move that the Kentucky Alliance agree to serve as fiscal sponsor for the $50,000 grant that has been awarded to the Revolutionary Black Panther Party of Louisville, that the Alliance Treasurer maintain the records and make payments in accordance with best practices for fiscal sponsors and in accordance with Alliance tradition, including charging the traditional 10% administrative fee for taking on these additional duties and responsibilities.* I further recommend that we form a grant review committee, including drafting policies and procedures for how fiscal sponsorship requests will be handled so that the committee can review the grants and bring them as recommendations to the board in a fair, consistent and responsible manner going forward.
*This requires any existing checks be canceled or torn up, money be redeposited into the account or receipts produced by Tuesday night’s board meeting so that we may be in compliance with our board bylaws, as well as state and federal laws.
The first male co-chair, whose grant it was, was late, even though we chose Sunday instead of Monday to work around his schedule, missed the initial presentation I had mustered the fortitude to push through. So when he came on, people on the call made me explain it and read it again.
Once we learned a few things about the grant and our responsibilities, or at least what they told us, we agreed to waive the 10% fee and not make the RBPP reimburse the check that was distributed, and that going forward, we will have a process and a committee so we don’t make the same mistakes again. Some of the language was struck and separated, and two motions passed. I was pleased with the process and the results and I felt that we were doing something positive, but there was still a cloud hanging over the meeting due to the text messages she had sent, which by now some had to know was about me, and just because they had broken some pretty serious rules and no one likes to be called on the carpet.
Not knowing who would be running the meeting, and our organization’s history of long, chaotic and disrespectful meetings, I wanted to keep everyone on task. This was a show of support, not us telling him no, so it should have been a no-brainer. Although, not getting the contract until the meeting had already started is a real red flag, and the fact that it only has one signature, hers, but none from the grantor or the recipient. I still have a lot of questions, but if someone is committing fraud, we will have to look into that at another time. There is no way to know that from the situation we are in, on a 3-day bank holiday weekend, so we just have to trust one another and limit our exposures the best we can. In fact, as I’m typing all of these wonderful coincidences, full of hurry up and wait, I’m realizing this sounds like the work of real pros. If we just got ripped off then we probably deserved it. Hopefully we learn from it. It’s not the first time, if my memory serves me correctly.
Nope. I am editing this article on September 20, 2023. Everything you just read after I added the introduction was written after the falling out that took place in May of this year when she tried to circumvent the advice to I gave her to resign from one of the two executive seats she squats on, fearing my views would be shared by others. So she once again manipulated enough unaware board members into doubling down on something they knew nothing about. The topic is unapproachable now, especially coming from a white woman and directed toward a Black woman who has repeatedly, even if inaccurately, been accused of attacking a Black woman. (Even if she is more like Booker T. Washington or Daniel Cameron than Harriet Tubman or Angela Davis.)
I was prepared to resign from the organization if staying on could put my personal finances at risk. And even just enduring an audit and any bad press that would likely ensue is not something I’m willing to stick around for, so there are some non-negotiables here. And I say this not just for me, but for some of the others I mentioned above. One of them told me, “If you dip, I dip.” These women are EXPERIENCED mothers AND teachers of students of color, students of special needs, students of the LGBTQ+ community, and union members and officers, (who are never allowed a seat at the executive table because of their refusal to compromise). A union that has done everything to silence them and nothing to represent them. I see my role as a warrior and I’m protecting these women. So I suggest you listen to their stories and help me do the same. Thank you.
NOTE: I am making an effort not to disparage a Black woman by not mentioning her by name. Unfortunately, the audio recordings that I uploaded for safekeeping without knowledge of how or when they would be used still reference her by name. I am including them because they speak for themselves and you no longer need to take my word or hers, you can just listen for yourself. I am in the process of updating those files so her name will no longer be visible. However, that takes time and I have been dealing with a lot more pressing issues than feeding into drama created by someone who puts their own power ahead of the people she was elected to serve.