In September of 2022, the public was notified that Denver Public Schools (DPS) initiated an unethical battle with Black students under their care. While our students are encouraged to take a very active approach to their learning and individual development, utilizing the tools provided to them by their district, four young Black women are now facing retaliation for their initiative and success. 

Know Justice, Know Peace: The Take Podcast (KJKP), was created in 2020 as a direct response to the racial and social climate at that time. Four brilliant students took it upon themselves to use the tools provided in their schools to elevate the voice of young Black students navigating a very challenging time in all of our lives. These four young women, which we will not name for their protection, have received international attention and support for their timely and necessary platform. They even used their platform to create a curriculum, and raise funds, for proper representation of Black voices within DPS, something DPS publicly adopted. 

Now their platform is being appropriated by the same district that was put in place to encourage and support them. DPS has changed all of the passwords to KJKP's platform sites, they have filed an application with USPS to officially trademark "Know Justice, Know Peace: The Take," and they are spending district dollars to challenge these young women in court for a brand that was completely conceptualized and established by these students. 

If DPS is successful, we will be maintaining a history of cultural appropriation and paying one of the largest law firms in the country with district dollars to do so. Meanwhile, too many students throughout the district do not have the resources they need, and most teachers and staff are sorely underpaid while we are encouraging an unethical campaign against these students. 

Valuable dollars are at stake. The precedent to steal any student's intellectual property is at stake. Your young, brilliant, emerging artists and entrepreneurs face the possibility of being taken advantage of by their own district if DPS is successful in this unethical endeavor. We need to demand that the DPS school board drop this application and return this platform to the individuals who created and established it. 

If we do not act now, we risk spending valuable dollars on unethical practices. Sign this petition today. Let's demand that DPS stand on the right side of history. 

Free KJKP!

Photo courtesy of Jeffery Kass