Reflection and Lessons on a Fight for Justice

As it is certainly no secret, many folks know I have been acquainted with Karen Brown since prior to her incarceration. Karen was re-sentenced by the Ky Parole Board to 'serve-out' and die in prison. I had also followed her story and progress as best I could over the decades. I had last been around Karen as a free woman (or rather emerging adult) about a week before the night of Feb. 3, 1986. A night that tragically altered the lives for many. I went to the trial, saw the media madness, experienced the stereotyped fears that grew as a fallout, not

just from the criminal legal system in Lexington and Louisville but what was also in my everyday Kentucky life. Karen Brown's case is still portrayed in the media, as exploitive in nature and has crossed over the Millenium which continues to this day. New spins on same old false narratives are repackaged in more modern-day settings just to attract viewers and make a buck. "We didn't know any better" doesn't fly in 2026. We do know better...and as part of Maya Angelou's famous quote goes, "when you know better, do better". We should all know better and be doing better by now. Yet even as I aimlessly scrolled the TV guide last night to close out Valentine's Day, I see one of the channels known for their docu-series that highlight these tragic events of couples or alleged couples I should say and on Valentine's Day playing their version of Karen's story. They can be brutal to watch...and it was easy to say a hard "I will PASS" on this one for me.

Today, I advocate and fight for Karen's life. We are now more than just acquaintances; we've become close friends. Last night topped off what had already been a difficult and challenging day. I thought, maybe it's just a long day, maybe just an emotional day that caught up to me cause really it didn't seem like it was an "emotional" day. Maybe that's the problem...I had it but didn't feel it and now all bottled up and I don't know what it is or how it might come out or bust out! Maybe putting those things together, maybe feeling lost...I was just really tired and hoping it would all pass.

Realizing all that Karen has accomplished, has amazed me from the start. I try to keep perspective, but maybe it was getting away from me? Sometimes maybe, it's just the magnitude of it all and I'm just in awe. I know a lot of maybe's but also maybe just really seeing and realizing what it is Karen has done and what it's taken for her to get there and continue to grow through. I can't pretend any of it. I don't know what it is. I know I don't like sitting in it either. Maybe it's in the slowing down a bit or running into a wall? I know I should just go to bed and maybe this too shall pass. Just "pass" makes it sound insignificant, which it is not. I just don't like it. Not sure what I want or think will help. If I thought, I knew that I would say it. It can be hard seeing all of this, hearing all of this and realizing all of what Karen has actually gone through, all that she has endured. But also knowing, this is not one ounce compared to have been living all of this and getting to where she is today. Maybe I just need to listen more...as Karen has.

Perhaps all the "maybe's" I tell myself are so I don't get held accountable to it when we talk. She is who she is and I never thought any different. I have more recently been getting this flood of emotions in bigger waves that sometimes I don't even know what I have until it crashes down right in front of me. I know I have a lot to learn. I have learned a lot so far. I'm not sure I even understand at times but I'm trying to.

The fight continues on as a constant, but my emotions arrive in waves. The realization of all she has fought and been through, yet she remains humbled serving her life as a child of God, living in that each and every day. Karen doesn't boast about it. She's been given a serve-out. The Commonwealth of Kentucky says she must die there. She doesn't demand her justice. Does she want her freedom? Her Miracle as she calls it? Yes! She has given her life and being of service to others for over 40 years. Karen is highly respected not only within the walls but well beyond as the ripple effects I see, continue to ripple across the water.

As I've been trying to also fight for her life, I continue to learn more and more not only about her but from her and about myself. Not just what I've learned from others or the stories from 'inside' but hearing from Karen herself on her journey as matter of fact. I don't know she even realizes it. I have never seen someone so consistently true to not only their word but quietly going about it through her actions every single day of her life, no matter the cost to keeping her word. Her faith dictates her life. Karen is who she says she is as a child of God and fights for that every single day and as she has said, because she has to.

I spoke with Karen yesterday as she continues to heal from another even more invasive surgery to correct a previously botched procedure, my words not her. A procedure she has suffered through at the expense of a lifetime of prison healthcare within an environment where attacks on her life have left her always on alert. No narcotics, no prescription, no pillows to prop up her leg. By the way no one is permitted even the decency of a pillow there. She doesn't speak on the physical pain, but she will tell me if I ask. Likewise, she doesn't 'burden' others with the emotional pains, but her actions certainly make clear that she uses those lessons to teach others a better path than the one she was on so many years ago.

I think it's in the last wave of realizing what it is she has done and what it's taken for her to get there and continues to grow through, it blows my mind and pulls at the heartstrings. Once again, I can glaringly see she walks the walk every day of her life. If only we all could lift that lesson from KB as well. It may sound simple, but I know it's not easy. I can see the weight of over 40 years that she carries, it drives me. It also overwhelms me too. Karen has been that lighthouse and beacon for me for many years, much longer than I had ever let on to her until the more recent years. We've talked a lot. We've shared joys and frustrations. She's never wavered. Neither one of us are those same 21-year-olds searching for purpose and meaning in 1985 Lexington, Kentucky. Karen now continues to humbly walk her path, serving her life as an example for myself and many others.

I've shared with her the more recent flood of emotions surrounding this fight for her life and being able to see all that she has done, continues to do, knowing some of the circumstances in which she's had to endure in the process. She's made a huge impact on the work I've done over the years, working in a prison myself and with others who have also served decades since their youthful days trying to gain the same salvation and redemption Karen has with a hope for freedom one day.

Karen has been delivering sermons & providing an institution the gift of her music ministry for over a quarter century. With a plethora of programs where she gave back, multiple advanced degrees, including a master's in Christian counseling, Karen is also a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a great-aunt, a friend, mentor, and teacher to hundreds if not thousands of men & women over the years who have walked through those gates as staff, educators, volunteers or as the last stop on paying their debt to society with the precious time of life that can never be returned. I honestly don't understand this fight anymore. For a Governor that claims to have a belief in recovery, redemption, and belief in 2nd chances, I think the question now shifts from will you Free Karen Brown to WHY won't you Free Karen Brown?