Plus, what's happening in the news - with a Reveal context.

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Saturday, March 5, 2022

In this issue of The Weekly Reveal:
* A viral video ([link removed]) embarrassed a Nashville, Tennessee, police captain – and exposed a toxic work culture that went beyond just one officer.
* Reveal’s reporting offers crucial context for the latest headlines, including President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, a major climate report and abortion bans.

If you enjoy this week’s newsletter, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Feeling chatty? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!


** New: The Viral Video That Broke Nashville Police’s Code of Silence
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Illustration by Sarah Mirk for Reveal

Greta McClain did not set out to become the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s most vocal critic, but she’s the thread that ties together all the stories you’ll hear on this week’s Reveal ([link removed]) .

The Beginning of the Department’s ‘Me Too’ Moment

It all started with an argument on a bike path between nanny Erin McDermott and an angry man in his backyard. When McDermott and the kids she cares for stopped to drink water, a man started shouting and cursing at them. McDermott filmed the encounter and posted the video online.

“He just was so agitated and so aggressive,” McDermott said. “Even the way that he was talking to the kids … no rational person does that.”

She didn’t know who the man was when she released the video ([link removed]) , but that angry man turned out to be Capt. Jason Reinbold. It went viral and started a scandal that cracked a hole in the “blue wall” of silence that can protect police accused of bad behavior. When female officers started contacting the nanny to share their experiences with officers’ bad behavior, it sparked a “Me Too” moment within the department, inspiring current and former officers to speak up about how they had been mistreated or sexually abused.

A Choice Between Justice and Her Job

Monica Blake-Beasley, one of the few Black women on the force, says the blue wall of silence teaches police officers to keep things in the family. But then there was a case in which she didn't think the unwritten rules should apply: her own sexual assault. She says she was raped by a fellow officer.

When she reported it, she felt like she was the one in trouble, with her chain of command launching a disciplinary investigation against her that was unrelated to the assault.

When she accused a fellow officer of rape, she crossed an unspoken line.

The department began to punish her for minor infractions, including recording a testimonial video for a local magician who performed at her child’s birthday party. That seemed to her like payback. And she says she lost all trust in the system that was supposed to protect good officers and hold the bad ones accountable.

“Never did I think I would have to choose between justice and my job,” Blake-Beasley said.

The Thread That Ties It All Together

After McDermott posted the video of the police captain, she says she started to receive messages from women in the department. She felt a duty to help these women, so she contacted McClain, the founder of Silent No Longer, an advocacy group for sexual assault survivors.

McClain and her organization started to reach out to the officers who had sent messages to McDermott. And then phone calls and emails started pouring in. Eventually, more than 40 current and former employees would share their stories, including complaints about Reinbold and others within the department.

Samantha Max of WPLN News in Nashville investigated those allegations with help from APM Reports. Hear her full investigation in Behind the Blue Wall ([link removed]) .

🎧 Listen online ([link removed]) or on Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) or wherever you get your podcasts.

The truth won’t reveal itself. Help us deliver the stories that make a difference. Donate today.
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** In the News
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What’s happening in the news – with a Reveal context
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President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address Tuesday as Vice President Kamala Harris (left) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) look on. Credit: Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty Images

GUNS: “We’ll soon be strengthening the Violence Against Women Act that I first wrote three decades ago,” President Joe Biden said Tuesday during his State of the Union address ([link removed]) . Efforts to pass the latest version of the act have been stalled since 2019. Advocates are hopeful that the 2022 Senate update, which has bipartisan support, will break through the logjam. Five of the Senate GOP co-sponsors opposed the Democrats’ bill in 2019. Biden has pledged to sign the reauthorization if it comes to his desk.

🔹 A Reveal investigation ([link removed]) found that many victims of domestic violence gun homicides were killed by abusers who were prohibited from having guns. Advocates say our reporting has helped drive bipartisan consensus around provisions in the new version ([link removed]) of the act, forcing senators to confront a burgeoning crisis.

SUSTAINABILITY: On Monday, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report ([link removed]) was released. “The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt unless greenhouse gas emissions are quickly reduced,” The New York Times ([link removed]) wrote about the report’s findings.

🔹 Reveal’s reporting ([link removed]) recently found that Amazon tallies product carbon emissions only for its own Amazon-branded products, which make up about 1% of its online sales. That means Amazon does not count the full carbon footprint for the other 99% of its online sales, accepting less responsibility for global warming than even smaller competitors. And because of what Amazon fails to count, the company is on the hook for eventually canceling out fewer emissions to reach its “net zero” carbon emissions goal by 2040.

The data comes from a private emissions report we obtained that Amazon doesn’t want you to see. Dive deeper ([link removed]) .

HEALTH CARE: The Women’s Health Protection Act, which would enshrine the right to abortion in federal law, was blocked ([link removed]) Monday by Senate Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) from moving ahead for consideration. The next day, Texas marked ([link removed]) six months since its six-week abortion ban went into effect. The Idaho ([link removed]) Senate on Thursday also passed a six-week abortion ban. It goes to its Republican-led House next, and if passed and signed by Republican Gov. Brad Little, Idaho could become the first state ([link removed]) to enact an abortion ban that models ([link removed]) the Texas law. Florida, too, passed its own bill
restricting abortion Thursday. That measure bans abortion at 15 weeks ([link removed]) , and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign it into law.

🔹 On Reveal ([link removed]) , we explored the consequences of how restricting abortion in Texas is playing out in the crowded waiting room of an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas. Staff are overwhelmed, and sometimes Texas patients drive all night to get there. When they do arrive, patients have to navigate Kansas’ own set of laws also designed to make abortion hard to access. Listen to the episode here ([link removed]) .
This newsletter is written by Kassie Navarro. Drop her a line (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Weekly%20Reveal%20feedback) with feedback and ideas!

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