Gynnya McMillen
© Justice for Gynnya McMillen/Facebook
Gynnya McMillen was her name. She was 16 years old, she was probably assaulted on the night of January 10th, and found 'unresponsive' early morning on the 11th. She was being held in Elizabethtown, Kentucky - the county seat of Hardin County - at the ominous sounding Lincoln Village Regional Juvenile Detention Center, on charges of fourth degree assault after getting into a fight with a parent.

The Lincoln Village Regional Juvenile Detention Center is one of nine... "secure Regional Juvenile Detention Centers that provide secure detention to all counties in Kentucky. The Detention Centers provide programs with a wide range of services including: education, counseling, acute medical and mental health care, behavior management, observation and assessment, as well as continuous supervision. Lincoln Village RJDC is a 44-bed facility and serves youths ages 11 to 18 over a 13 county area."

That came from this job application... and if that's not creepy enough, they're looking for a registered nurse. Top of the list of his/her duties?

Administering and charting medications/injections:
Kentucky, Lincoln Village Detention Center
© Screen Capture/ky.gov

According to CBS News:
Hardin County Coroner William Lee, Jr. said in an interview Monday that in an initial autopsy on Jan. 12, he saw no outward signs, such as "visual bruising," that could conclusively signal a cause of death. Lee also said it was unlikely she had a heart condition. Lee said the full results wouldn't be available for weeks, until after pathology tests were done.
These are just a few facts of the case. I encourage the reader to do their own research and ask their own questions. I can't understate that we have another young person of color dead while under the authority of the state. That, in and of itself, should speak volumes about the nature of our governance.

As I've said before, there's something terribly wrong with this country. We consistently see those in power abuse their authority, often leading to the death of innocent people. Sometimes their innocence may be questionable, but it's clear that these people do not deserve to be executed or otherwise left to the abuse of clearly pathological deviants.

This case is also eerily reminiscent of Sandra Bland.
On July 10th 2015, Sandra Bland had recently arrived in Prairie View, Waller County, Texas from Illinois to begin a new job at her alma mater, A&M University, a historically black school 40 miles northwest of Houston. While driving in Prairie View that day, Waller County trooper Brian Encina, with nothing better to do than harass drivers for minor traffic "violations" that endanger no one, pulled Bland over for not signaling a lane change.
The dash-cam footage is available on google, but to summarize this horrific tragedy, she was assaulted by the officer who ripped her out of her car while threatening to tase her - all because she refused to put out her cigarette. He then physically assaulted her off camera, claiming self-defense, and locked her up for a few days for 'assaulting an officer.' After a few days, she was found dead and the circumstances of her death were ruled self-inflicted.

Lack of transparency makes one question what exactly happened to both women. Especially considering the nature of the areas in which they were killed. Houston is historically very racist - here is a video I found from less than 5 minutes of Googling:

Within another few minutes, I discovered that this video was shot less than 2 hours from where Gynnya was killed. Was she killed by racists? Was there a conspiracy of silence among the staff at the detention center? Is the coroner in on it or were there really no signs of the cause of death?

Given the facts, these questions aren't beyond the realm of reasonable consideration.

There's also the fact that she was only at the center for less than 24 hours. Perhaps she mouthed off to the wrong person, or perhaps she died of some type of natural cause. Either way, her name is added to a growing list of people of color who have died while under the authority of the state. These five women were killed in July last year, all while under police custody...

Here's another 15 black women who were killed prior to that, also while in police custody...