Bend the Arc Jewish Action: Louisville Condemns the Kentucky State Police Training Quoting Hitler

BTA Louisville Supports Calls to Defund the Police and Encourages Holocaust Education Training

As Jews, we understand that the Holocaust did not begin with killing — but with words. This is why we at Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Louisville refuse to stay silent in the face of antisemitism and other forms of bigotry: we deeply understand the potential danger of hateful words and when we say “never again” — we mean it. We are horrified to learn that the Kentucky State Police quoted Hitler’s manifesto of hatred Mein Kampf multiple times in their training.

Aside from the clear indecency of quoting Hitler, as if the genocidal tyrant had wisdom worth sharing, the context of the quotes makes them even more alarming. The Kentucky State Police training encouraged cadets to adopt a warrior mentality, meet violence with greater violence, and be ruthless killers. Given this training has only now been revealed, this mentality is indicative of an entrenched disturbing and dangerous culture among the Kentucky State Police and should concern all Kentuckians, especially Jewish Kentuckians.

The “warrior mindset” training falsely teaches future police officers that they work under constant threat of grave violence. This toxic mindset endangers civilians as encounters escalate unnecessarily. This disproportionately affects Black people. We’ve seen countless instances of Black lives being senselessly lost at the hands of police as well as police brutality.

We stand by the call to action by Black Lives Matter leaders to divest the inflated budget from the police and instead invest in the communities they are failing to adequately serve. Teaching the idea that policing is a battlefield and further illustrating these teachings with Nazi quotes do not keep any of us safe.

Additionally, we encourage all Kentucky State Police officers to enroll in the Law Enforcement and Society: Lessons from the Holocaust (LEAS) program in conjunction with the United States Holocaust Museum and the Anti-Defamation League. This program teaches officers about the fundamental role that police played in Nazi Germany and encourages police officers to reflect on their roles in a democratic society today.

We are tremendously grateful to the remarkable high school student journalists of the Manual Red Eye who broke this story. The students have done a mitzvah by exposing this story, as revealing antisemitism is a fundamental step to stopping it.

In the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Let us dodge no issues. Let us yield no inch to bigotry, let us make no compromise with callousness.”

Get involved with Bend the Arc: Louisville here.