K.A. Owens, Jefferson County
Vice Chairperson

My name is K.A. Owens. I’m a native Kentuckian, from Jefferson County.

I’m a veteran of the Million Man March. The march was a spiritual event not only for the participants but for people all over the world.  When the March was over participants were asked to go back home and make their communities and the world a better place.  And that’s what we did. 

I started organizing around issues without being in a group. Since I had kept the phone numbers of the people I had met I was able to call the people I knew and organize around issues and events.  After a certain point, people started inviting me to join their groups and that’s how I came to KFTC. 

I came to KFTC for a variety of reasons.  One was because the Jefferson County chapter was moving into police brutality issues.  Another, because I was interested in going to the state capitol in Frankfort and working on legislative issues.  KFTC has a lot of history in Frankfort. 

    I think there are powerful interests out there that are already well organized and these interests don’t have a concern for the great majority of people.  Their interests are very , very limited. Ordinary people have to develop a voice for themselves or they will literally, literally, be pushed aside. 

The Jefferson County Chapter works as part of a coalition called Citizens Against Police Abuse. In 2000 we got a piece of legislation through city hall in Louisville. 
Winning pieces of legislation is important, but to me, the most significant thing about these efforts is that CAPA meetings include everyone from 18 to 80, gay or straight, rich or poor, African American or white, and everything in between. Being a part of this kind of effort changes your life whether you win a piece of legislation or not.  It makes you into a different person, because most Americans are not used to working in those kinds of environments even today. 

I recommend that new members make sure they educate themselves on issues other than the ones that brought them to the organization.  Reach out and work with people who are working on other issues. It will be a great learning experience for you. 

KFTC is the only group that I know of that is reaching from Paducah to Pikeville, urban and rural, organizing ordinary people to take control of their own destiny. All of us have to realize that we are part of the larger world and that all the issues are linked. That’s why it is important for me to work both locally and statewide.

I hope that KFTC continues to grow.  We have members that live in Western Kentucky but we don’t have a chapter there.  I’d like to see us have a chapter in Western Kentucky.