Finding Kendrick Johnson

This documentary about how Kendrick Johnson was killed on January 10th, 2013, in Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, was very thorough. The information it contains shows a desire from the school to downplay everything they could to prevent an actual investigation into his death. Kendrick Johnson was found wrapped up in a gym mat at his high school, which was eerily similar to something that occurred at Trumbull High School in 2000 while I was a student there. Because the person who it happened to was my friend, his name will be omitted. For reference, the story can be found in the New York Times article, "Hazing Scandal At High School Horrifies Town in Connecticut," written by Robert D. McFadden.

A friend of mine wanted to be on the Trumbull High School wrestling team, and every day, I tried to convince him to join the track team instead because one of the people on the wrestling team had been left back several times, and was extremely aggressive. The school also didn't do anything to prevent hazing, in fact, in the 1998 yearbook, there's a quote that was approved by the yearbook committee mentioning the continuation of "Ritualistic hazing." My friend, who was 15, had been frequently hazed violently by Daniel Scinto Jr. And Jeremy Dommu, both of whom were 18 years old at the time. Christopher Ricci, who was 16 at the time, was also involved in the horrifying hazing. The worst of it occurred when they wrapped my friend up in a rubber gym mat, and then slammed him into the bleachers in the gym repeatedly, resulting in broken bones, in addition to an act of sodomy with a plastic fork. My friend was found in the gym wrapped up in the mat. His family sued the school, and won the case, and they moved away soon after. Roughly a few months after I graduated, the wrestling coach who once found my friend dehydrated, and locked a metal grated gym locker over the weekend, leaving him to be found on Monday, was finally fired when he choked a parent at the High School during a wrestling match. This news story can be found in the News Day article, "Sports Flash Coach Charged With Assaulting Parent," written by the Associated Press.

In the case of Kendrick Johnson, it's clear that an assault occurred resulting in his death. This was verified by the second coroner's report. The nature of how he was found in the gym mat reminded me of what occurred to my friend, right down to the position of his body in the gun mat. The difference is that my friend lived to fight his case in court. Kendrick Johnson was literally murdered in his high school, and nothing was done about it at all. It's clearly a tragic example of intentional mismanagement at all of the highest levels, from the initial coroner's report, to the way the school literally tried to close the case the same day Kendrick Johnson was found in the gym mat. The FBI even redacted information from their school camera system review, and judges who were close to the family of the two suspects in Kendrick Johnson's murder recused themselves. This is something that happens far too often with implicit racial bias in the US. Watching this documentary brought me back to seeing my friend in a wheel chair after everything occurred.

The similarities to the severe hazing incident my friend experienced, and the case of Kendrick Johnson were too much to ignore. True justice needs to be served in the heartbreaking case of Kendrick Johnson. There are some exceptionally explicit images of atrocities committed against Black People in Finding Kendrick Johnson. Sadly, those soul crushing images are necessary because the US still has yet to place equal value in the lives of all Americans. Kendrick Johnson's family shouldn't have to allow the world to see his brutalized body for people to simply show basic human empathy. This is a disgusting part of America's legacy of racial violence that needs to be properly addressed. The Johnson family is incredibly brave, and Kendrick Johnson would be honored to know that his family will not stop until justice is truly served in the case of his death.

In the case of Kendrick Johnson, it's clear that an assault occurred resulting in his death. This was verified by the second coroner's report. The nature of how he was found in the gym mat reminded me of what occurred to my friend, right down to the position of his body in the gun mat. The only difference is that my friend lived to fight his case. Kendrick Johnson was literally murdered in his high school, and nothing was done about it at all. It's clearly a tragic case of intentional mismanagement at all of the highest levels, from the initial coroner's report, to the way the school literally tried to close the case the same day Kendrick Johnson was found in the gym mat. The FBI even redacted information from their school camera system review, and judges who were close to the family of the two suspects in Kendrick Johnson's recused themselves. This is something that happens far too often with implicit racial bias in the US. Seeing the documentary brought me back to seeing my friend in a wheel chair after everything occurred.

The similarities to the severe hazing incident my friend experienced, and the case of Kendrick Johnson were too much to ignore. True justice needs to be served in the heartbreaking case of Kendrick Johnson. There are some exceptionally explicit images in this documentary, Finding Kendrick Johnson. Sadly, those soul crushing images are necessary because the US still hasn't placed equal value in the lives of all Americans. Kendrick Johnson's family shouldn't have to allow the world to see his brutalized body for people to simply have empathy. This is a part of America's legacy of racial violence that needs to be properly addressed. The Johnson family is exceptionally brave, and Kendrick would be honored to know that his family will not stop until justice is truly served in the case of his death.

This movie isn't a documentary; it is a work of fiction claiming to be fact. It is one-sided, obscures and/or obfuscates facts, and ignores the vast amounts of evidence proving the claims throughout are false- 100%, provably, verifiably false. Right now you, the reader, can access the police reports, court records, autopsy reports, etc. With a simple Google search. You can read a handful of well-written and researched articles that break this case down piece by piece to show that not only are the Bell brothers not guilty of murder but that no murder occurred at all. I can't imagine the pain of losing your son to a tragic accident that he caused himself, but finding someone, anyone, to blame won't bring him back. Tearing another family apart won't heal theirs.

The "newly discovered" piece of evidence they believe proves the murder is not newly discovered, not does it prove that Johnson was killed by Bell the younger. I've had that piece of evidence (an FBI analysis of the school surveillance system) in my possession for years. What is that evidence, you ask? Well, it's a screen grab of Brian and Kendrick passing each other I am crowded hall hours before KJ entered the gym mat and lost his life. There is no indication either boy saw the other- no eye contact, head nod, high-five or wave. Their cincher is two students passing each other in a crowded hallway amongst hundreds of other students on their way to classes in the opposite direction. It proves NOTHING other than that both boys were in school that day.

What does this "documentary" leave out? A hell of a lot. First, Dr. Anderson is the ONLY patholgist that classified this death as murder put of the 4 that reviewed this case. Dr. Anderson has never been asked to testify under oath regarding this case. Curious, is it not, that in the over-a-dozen lawsuits filed by the Johnson's, they never felt the one patholgist that called this murder be asked to testify to that fact? Perhaps he knew this case would fall apart once he was cross-examined. They also don't mention that the older Bell brother was off-campus during the time KJ entered the gym. This is not in dispute, there are cell records, unbiased witnesses, weigh-in records and wrestling meet results that all prove this. Brian was on campus, on video entering a classroom on the other side of the school when KJ entered the old gym.

They claim KJ was an honor student and triple athlete. He was a 17-year old sophomore who had been held back at least one grade. He wasn't participating in any sport at the time of his death because his poor grades and attendance made him ineligible. If your grades are low enough that you cannot even play a sport, you are most certainly NOT an honor roll student. KJ played freshman football and basketball; he played no sports his sophomore year. They pretended to be a wholesome family, but his parents were divorced and living apart at the time of KJ's death, and KJ? He wasn't even living at home; he was living with his grandmother. None of this makes Kendrick's death any less tragic, but it does prove that the Johnsons and the Truth have a rather complicated relationship that diverges more often than not.

There is one place that we know the truth was told-the sworn deposition of Kendrick's mother and father. You can access those too. In them, they admit they have NO EVIDENCE to prove any of their claims. NONE! ZIP! ZILCH! NADA! It's a work of fiction created by grieving parents. And now that work of fiction is being given credence by a "documentary film-maker" who clearly couldn't be bothered to even glance at a shred of evidence that wasn't spoon-fed to him by the Johnsons. Mr. Pollock, is be more than happy to direct you the thousands of pages of documents that show your documentary is demonstrably false.

Ebony Magazine released an article about this case that didn't name the accused (please note, they have never been accused by a single law enforcement agency, only the Johnsons) and ended up settling a defamation suit for $500k. I hope Mr. Pollock is prepared for a similar suit, he's definitely earned it.

Response to Loyalty below: I can back up everything I stated with evidence. Can you say the same? I never said he killed himself (implying suicide), he did make an error in judgement that killed him though. The conclusions I've come to are based upon the existing evidence of this case, not the race of Kendrick. In fact, I would say there is more racism in accusing a family of murder despite zero evidence purely because the "victim" is Black and the "suspects" are white. I would never claim that hate crimes don't happen. They do. It's tragic and wrong and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. I am simply saying that is not what happened in this case. Sometimes an accident is just an accident and the inability to accept that doesn't a crime make.

This family deserves justice. It amazes me how a black child can be killed and so many lies about it can be told. The truth hasn't came to light but it will. Whoever heard of a child being able to roll themselves up tight in a mat and dump themselves upside down while looking for shoes that were already in the mat. Nancy one of the other reviewers you are about as ignorant as they come. This kid could not have killed himself. Talking about his grades and rather or not his parents were married is none of your business and nobody else's. You thought to write a review about his family instead of his tragic death tells a lot about you. This child was murdered period. To think otherwise shows that racism is at its finest in this town and obviously there's a lot that's been covered up. Body parts missing, video tape cut, he had no reason to be rolled up tightly in a mat and from the position of his body it's so evident he couldn't of done that to himself. Sad and pitiful that this is still going on in the USA today.

Watching bits and pieces of interviews you can't come to a conclusion. You might think that they got it wrong but when you watch this documentary you'll realize something isn't right. Please watch this and share it or watch it with a group of people because KJ deserves justice!