INDECENT POLICING IN FORT WORTH: MORNINGSIDE COMMUNITY TOWN HALL ANNOUNCEMENT: A Community Response to the Devaluing, Demoralizing, and Demeaning Treatment by the Fort Worth Police Department Gang Unit in Morningside 76104.
MORNINGSIDE COMMUNITY TOWN HALL ANNOUNCEMENT: A Community Response to the Devaluing, Demoralizing, and Demeaning Treatment by the Fort Worth Police Department Gang Unit in Morningside 76104
Hosted by
New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church and Ministers Justice Coalition of Texas
Location:
New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church
2864 Mississippi Avenue
Fort Worth, Texas 76104
Date & Time:
Thursday, October 30, 2025, at 6:30 PM
“We need a police force built on a love for people — all people — not just those who look, think, or live like them. How can you truly protect and serve a community if you don’t love the very people you’re called to serve? It simply doesn’t make sense.” Pastor Kyev Tatum
COMMUNITY PURPOSE
The residents of Fort Worth’s historic Morningside and 76104 community are coming together to confront a growing crisis: the devaluing, demoralizing, and demeaning treatment of Black and economically underserved residents by certain members of the Fort Worth Police Department Gang Unit.
This Town Hall follows a deeply disturbing incident in which a white Fort Worth police officer, while on duty and in uniform, used a racial slur toward Civil Rights Pastor Kyev Tatum on the grounds of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church on October 22, 2024.
Witnesses heard the officer say:
“I’m not going to talk to that N-word; he’s an idiot.”
This hateful statement—spoken publicly, in uniform, and on sacred church grounds—was more than a personal insult. It was an act of racial intimidation and abuse, reflective of a broader pattern of harassment in Fort Worth’s underserved communities.
WHY WE’RE GATHERING
This Town Hall is a moral and civic call to action.
It is a declaration that our community will no longer tolerate racial bias, intimidation, or economic neglect by those sworn to protect and serve.
We are gathering to:
- Hear from residents who have experienced police harassment, intimidation, or misconduct.
- Demand accountability and transparency from city leaders, the Police Chief, and the City Manager.
- Call for a full Internal Affairs investigation into the officer’s conduct and the Gang Unit’s ongoing pattern of racial bias.
- Discuss strategies for systemic reform, reconciliation, and rebuilding trust in the community.
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AND COMMITMENT
For over 40 years, Pastor Kyev Tatum and New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church have worked to bring peace, trust, and justice between law enforcement and local neighborhoods. Their ministry has:
- Founded the Community Peacemakers Program, promoting cooperation and mediation.
- Helped design the 3E Plan for Equity and Equality for Everyone, a framework for fairness and accountability.
- Created the Fun Over Guns Pitch, Hit & Run Invitational, providing positive alternatives for youth.
- Partnered with the White House National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, advancing national models for fairness.
Despite decades of good faith and bridge-building, incidents like this reveal that systemic racism and bias remain active in certain FWPD units.
A PATTERN THAT MUST END
Fort Worth has endured too many tragedies, including:
- Atatiana Jefferson
- Carolyn Daniels
- Noah Lopez
- RaRa Thomas
- Jermaine Darden
- Kelvin Goldstein
- Amara Malone
- JaQuavion Slaton
Each name represents a life harmed or lost due to reckless, biased, or excessive policing, and each reminds us of the urgent need for accountability and systemic reform.
CALL TO ACTION
We are calling on:
- Mayor Mattie Parker and the Fort Worth City Council
- City Manager Jay Chapa
- Chief Eddie Garcia and the FWPD Command Staff
…to attend this Town Hall, hear directly from the people, and commit to measurable changes to protect all residents, especially those in Black and underserved neighborhoods.
CONCLUSION
If a police officer can publicly demean and dehumanize a pastor on church grounds, what is happening to those without cameras, witnesses, or titles?
Enough is enough.
We will not be silent.
We will not be ignored.
This Town Hall is about justice, dignity, and accountability—and about ensuring that every Fort Worth resident is treated with respect and humanity, particularly those too long ignored or targeted by systemic inequities.
With faith, courage, and resolve,
Rev. Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.
Pastor, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church
President, Ministers Justice Coalition of Texas
(817) 966-7625 | kyevtatum@gmail.com
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