Black Knoxville cop subjected to repeated racist taunts about slave ships and nooses from fellow officers

A Black police officer in Knoxville, Tennessee was subjected several times to racist taunts from fellow officers -- all while the department did nothing despite complaints from multiple cops.

Knox News reports that Knoxville Police Officer DionDré Jackson in 2019 complained to a lieutenant about fellow officer Adam Broome, whom multiple witnesses said taunted Jackson by telling him he must know a lot about "slave ships," while at the same time ranting about "bullsh*t" reparations for "you all" Black people.

Instead of disciplining the officer, the lieutenant told Jackson that was "just Broome being Broome."

Later, Knoxville Police Capt. Don Jones tried to hold a meeting to smooth over racial tensions within the department, but started off the meeting by making jokes about how cops used to wear shirts with nooses on them before saying "that sh*t would not fly this day and age."

Jackson later told investigators that he did not go to the department's internal affairs unit with his complaints because he didn't want to be labeled a snitch by his fellow cops.

"I didn't wanna come up here [to internal affairs] and put myself in that situation where I was blackballed and like nobody will speak [to me], I'm not getting promoted, I'm not getting a chance to go to other unit," he told investigators, who started probing racist incidents at the department after a former Knoxville cop mentioned them during his exit interview. "Like, if you tell on somebody, you're deemed a snitch."