Update (November 2, 2020): A Kansas City woman who made waves last week with a powerful speech to the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners says she was forced to hire security this weekend after receiving a barrage of death threats.

In a series of posts on Instagram and Twitter, Keiajah Brooks shared multiple angry messages she’s received.

View this post on Instagram

huh? OH. i thought someone who has to hide behind fake accounts to pop they shit said sum. but on a real tip, these aren’t amusing and i’m not in any way, shape, or form scared. relax. honestly. and that’s in YOUR best interest. not mine. ???? we don’t exert energy on trolls so no need to go call this random corn-shucking 16 year old white boy from named Kyle from North Kentucky y’all????

A post shared by kj x (@kjg.brks) on Oct 29, 2020 at 11:31pm PDT

She also showed three videos of the police tailing her throughout the weekend.

TRIBE ???????????? and so it begins.
KCPD has followed me all day.

– this SAME CAR “818” drove through my photo shoot today at 4:00 today.
– 818 then appeared on 35th and Prospect as i was doing trunk or treat at 6:00. (1/?) pic.twitter.com/PNNqz0zVMn

— kj (@kjgbrks) November 1, 2020

“Let me make a distinction before i go on a social media detox until after the election. WE WALK BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT ROUND THESE PARTS. I'm not afraid of any threats, I’m simply making the general public aware. I’m not moving out of KC. I am heightening my security,” she wrote on Twitter, later announcing that she had hired private security.

Brooks then shared a lengthy post explaining how she believes the Kansas City Police Department may eventually kill her.

She described five different scenarios that she envisions she may be hurt or killed, frequently referencing Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was killed in December 1969 by officers from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, the Chicago Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“They will hire a Black man to shoot me randomly, it will be the greatest irony. He will have no ties to me or KCPD. They will claim it was a sporadic act of violence as KCMO has had 154 homicides this year,” she wrote, adding that she thinks she also may be killed through a car accident.

“They will arrest me after a protest and kill me either en route to the precinct or in the precinct. KCPD is self-governing and would be able to cover up their own crimes,” she wrote.

She went on to say that she believes the police may even send an officer to kill her during a traffic stop or random encounter.

pic.twitter.com/6gPkKRbRLt

— kj (@kjgbrks) November 1, 2020

While some in the comments questioned if she was overreacting, others referenced the mysterious deaths of multiple activists who protested in Ferguson in 2014.

Original (October 28, 2020): Keiajah Brooks was the talk of Twitter and Instagram this week after her powerful speech to the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners demanding the resignation of the police chief racked up thousands of views.

THIS IS ME!!! https://t.co/ARSUC1NM2y

— kj (@kjgbrks) October 28, 2020

Brooks and other activists, pastors and community leaders were at the board meeting to demand the firing or resignation of Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith who has faced widespread criticism over accusations that officers in the city routinely use unnecessary force against Black people, according to The Kansas City Star.

The protests that sparked over the summer have grown rapidly since a video showed a police officer kneeling on a pregnant woman's back during an arrest earlier this month, as Blavity previously reported.

Multiple leaders gave passionate speeches but few matched Brooks, who made sure to thoroughly gather everyone in the room.

"I'm not nice and I don't seek to be respectable. I'm not asking ya'll for anything because ya'll can't and won't be both my savior and my oppressor," she said. "I don't want reform. I want to turn this building into luxury low-cost housing. These will make some really nice apartments to me."

She ripped Smith and other board members for their decision earlier in the meeting to show photos of themselves with Black children during a series of church-organized community events held this summer.

Community leaders have criticized Smith and other police leaders who have not made an effort to communicate with the city's Black community or improve race relations.

"Stop using Black children as photo opportunities 'cause they're cute now, but in 10 years, they're Black male suspects in red shirts and khaki shorts. Eating cookies and drinking milk with children does not absolve you of your complicity in their oppression and denigration, Rick Smith…. 'cause Kansas City will spend more on police than education then try to encourage children to feast with their oppressors. Y'all are really weird," Brooks said.

Rick-Smith

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