A group of students at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early College sued Denver Public Schools in federal court on Monday, claiming that the district is attempting to trademark their racial justice podcast “Know Justice, Know Peace.” According to the lawsuit, it’s argued that the DPS “unlawfully” made the move to gain control of the podcast’s brand by stealing the name “knowing full well the brand name was created by the students.”
On behalf of its two graduates, Jenelle Nangah and Alana Mitchell, alongside two other current students, the suit, filed in U.S. District Court, argues that the podcast was established shortly after the death of George Floyd in 2020. As a collective group, the students have used the platform to shed light on police brutality, their own experiences with racism, and regularly celebrated events such as Juneteenth with their listeners, with Nangah expressing, “We wanted people to hear our voices.”
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The story of four @dmlkjec students who launched a movement to impact change for all students. https://t.co/3uNZotRXyv#edcolo #MondayMotivation— RootED Denver (@RootedDenver) October 25, 2021
The podcast went on to become a huge success after attracting widespread media attention, including a segment on The Today Show, which prompted the Denver school board to pass a Know Justice, Know Peace resolution to diversify its curriculum. However, a lawyer for Denver Public Schools is arguing that the podcast was established with the help of the former principal and the school’s equipment, which they say is enough for them to not only acquire the trademark but also all rights pertaining to the podcast.
Nangah and Grayson have since been communicating with district staff members via email, with the latter having made the request to record the podcast independently after she had graduated from college. In her email, Grayson stressed that it was contradictory for the district to try to intimidate them by saying it upholds equity “while really saying DPS OWNS four Black young ladies’ image, voice, and content. That sounds very oppressive to me.”
Nangah continued by echoing similar words, adding, “I am utterly disgusted and in great dismay. It’s flabbergasting to see that in 2022, Black ownership is still being threatened by people in positions of power.”
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BLACK History 365 Education authors, Dr. Joel Freeman and Dr. Walter Milton joined and gifted our original podcast members individual scholarships! pic.twitter.com/cW1eFW8aIe
— Know Justice, Know Peace: The Take (@KJKPTheTake) October 24, 2021
A meeting was held in late August between Denver Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Anthony Smith, the students in question, and their parents to “coerce” them into admitting that the DPS owns the trademark, the lawsuit asserted, but their intentions backfired because the students stood their ground.
“The irony of DPS’s attempts to steal and then use the ‘Know Justice, Know Peace’ brand to air a racial justice podcast is that DPS has for years been short on black history, racial justice and education around these important issues,” the suit reads. “The fact that their newly discovered and considerably belated desire to address racial issues had to come in this form is a sad commentary on the state of DPS.”