Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton has named two co-chairs to a new panel charged with recommending changes concerning racial equality. The mayor also announced a moratorium on no-knock warrants, except in life and death cases.
Mayor Gorton says educator, civic leader, and director of Black Males Working Academy Roszalyn Akins and UK History Professor and pastor Gerald Smith will head up the citizens group. In announcing the co-chairs, Gorton said, quote, “everyone is impatient for change, including me.” She added there’s a need for long term systemic change. Akins and Smith will have a voice in naming the group and in identifying members.
The mayor has already identified health disparities, economic and educational opportunities, and justice issues. After consulting with Police Chief Lawrence Weathers, the mayor put in place the moratorium on no-knock warrants.
The city’s news release says no-knock warrants are seldom used in Lexington and have always required the signature of a judge.?
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